The First Lunar Solstice Eclipse in 456years Happens Tonight, Dec 20th-21st

Tonight is the first lunar solstice eclipse in 456years, maashaAllah. It's supposed to begin around 10:30pm PST and last about 3 hours inshaAllah. I wanted to share the following email I received on what we should be doing during this time:


 "As salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullah

I'm sure nearly everyone has heard about tonight's eclipse. I just wanted to remind everyone that it is a strong sunnah (some say as strong as Jumu'ah prayer) to pray during an eclipse. The added benefit is that it is coming in Muharram, which is one of the sacred months (which multiplies good deeds), and also that the time of prayer will be coinciding with the time for Tahajjud. Since there is an hour every night that du'a is accepted, we can really load up on good deeds here and, insha Allah be praying and making du'a during the time that Allah will accept it from us.

For those who may not know, during the eclipse prayers there are 2 Ruku' (bowing) instead of the normal 1.

 So:
1. Recite Fatiha and another surah
2. Make Ruku as normal
3. Stand up and recite Fatihah and another surah
4. Make Ruku and then sujood as normal
5. Repeat for second Raka'ah and then complete the prayer as normal.

If you need further clarification, here is a link with an audio (albeit fuzzy) that explains the prayer.

http://islamizeme.com/MP3/English/Dr_Ahmad_Sakr/Variety_of_Salat/34_Salat_Al-Kusuf_wa_Al-Khusuf.mp3

For your reference, the beginning of the eclipse, according to NASA, is 1:33am, and the end approximately 5:01am. Totality should begin at 2:41 and last for 72 minutes.

May Allah accept and forgive us all. If someone finds some mistake in what I have said, please correct me.

Wassalaam"