Sirah
The Eclipse and the Passing of Ibrahim
The death of the Prophet's infant son and the eclipse prayer, 10 AH / 632 CE
10 AH / 632 CE
Educational historical reconstructionWhere
The Prophet's Mosque and the cemetery of al-Baqi, Madinah
24.4672, 39.6111 · View on OpenStreetMap
Background
In the tenth year after the migration (632 CE), Ibrahim, the infant son of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) by Mariya (radiyallahu 'anha), died at Madinah while still a small child, and the Prophet grieved for him deeply. Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim record that he took the dying child and that his eyes overflowed, and that he said the eye weeps and the heart grieves, but we say only what pleases our Lord, and indeed, Ibrahim, we are sorrowful at your parting. On that same day the sun was eclipsed, and some of the people said that the sun had darkened for the death of Ibrahim; the Prophet stood and addressed them, declaring that the sun and the moon are two of the signs of Allah, that they are not eclipsed for the death or the life of anyone, and that when people see this they should hasten to the remembrance of Allah, to prayer and to charity until it passes. He then led the people in the eclipse prayer (salat al-kusuf), a long prayer with two extended standings and two bowings in each unit, which the Sunni schools take as the foundation of their rulings on the prayer at an eclipse. The infant Ibrahim was buried in the cemetery of al-Baqi at Madinah. The day holds together two things that the tradition deliberately keeps side by side: the natural and permitted grief of a father, and the firm rejection of reading the signs of the heavens as omens tied to the deaths of men, an affirmation of pure tawhid against an old superstition. This scene depicts the dimmed sun over the oasis, the simple Prophet's Mosque with its rows forming for the eclipse prayer, and a small fresh grave at al-Baqi beyond. In keeping with the Sirah tier no person is shown.
What you see
The sun stands dimmed by a partial eclipse over an oasis town at midday, the light gone strange and grey; a darkening of the heavens witnessed by the whole settlement.
The simple early Prophet's Mosque, with its palm-trunk columns and frond roof and beaten-earth court, where rows are forming for a long prayer; not a later galleried sanctuary, no minaret and no dome.
On the day the Prophet's infant son Ibrahim died, the sun was eclipsed, and some said it had darkened for the child's death; the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) corrected them, that the sun and the moon are two signs of Allah, eclipsed for the death or life of no one, and bade the people pray and call upon Allah.
Beyond the mosque, in the cemetery of al-Baqi, a small fresh grave of plain heaped earth, the burial of the infant; the grief of a father held together with the firm word that the heavens are not omens for human deaths.
The people are gathered for the eclipse prayer (salat al-kusuf), a long prayer of extended standing and bowing that the Prophet led that day, the basis of the Sunni rulings on the prayer at an eclipse.
The death of Ibrahim and the eclipse are narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, with the Prophet's saying on the sun and moon; the burial at al-Baqi is in Ibn Sa'd. In the Sirah tier no person is depicted.
Primary sources
Sahih al-Bukhari (the eclipse and the eclipse prayer; the saying on the sun and moon): The narrations that the sun was eclipsed on the day of Ibrahim's death, the Prophet's correction that the heavens are not omens for deaths, and the eclipse prayer. The primary Sunni frame.
Sahih Muslim (the eclipse prayer; the grief for Ibrahim): Parallel narrations of the eclipse prayer and the Prophet's words of grief and submission.
Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra (9th c.): The record of the birth and death of Ibrahim, his mother Mariya (RA), and the burial at al-Baqi.
Further reading & cross-references
Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, al-Rahiq al-Makhtum (20th c.): Modern Sunni synthesis for the dating in the tenth year and the joining of the grief and the eclipse.
The first Prophet's Mosque and al-Baqi (material): The scene must show the early, simple mosque (palm-trunk columns, frond roof) and the plain early graves of al-Baqi, not the later galleried sanctuary or domed tombs; the modern fabric is centuries later.
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