Partial Lunar Eclipse Tuesday Evening (Tuesday, September 17th)

**There will be a partial lunar eclipse over the entire Bay Area on Tuesday evening (September 17th, 2024).**alat ul-yt should be offered during the time the moon is eclipsed. You can refer hereto see the exact timings for your location. For example, in San Jose, California, the timings are from 7:12 pm to 8:15 pm.

Out of precaution, one should wait at least 10 minutes from the start of the eclipse to perform the alat. The best time to recite it is before the eclipse is at its maximum stage (7:44 pm).

Prayer Method for alat ul-yt:

1. Make the intention (Niyyah) of offering the prayer as "alat ul-yt".

2. Say Takbratul Irm: Allahu Akbar.

3. Recite Srah al-Ftiah and any other srah*.

4. Then perform ruk.

5. After ruk, stand and recite Srah al-Ftiah and any other srah and then perform another ruk.

6. Repeat this action five times (steps 3 & 4). When you stand after the fifth ruk, proceed to perform the two sajdah (as in the normal morning prayer), and then stand up to perform the second rakah in the same manner as was done in the first rakah (with the five ruks).

7. After performing the second set of sajdahs, recite tashahhud and end with salm to complete the prayer.

*Please note that a person is allowed to say Takbratul Irm, recite Srah al-Ftiah and then divide the verses of another srah into five parts, and recite one verse or more or less, and thereafter perform the ruk. Then stand and recite another part of the srah (without reciting Srah al-Ftiah) and then perform another ruk. This should be repeated and the srah must be finished before performing the fifth ruk.

However, the bismillah ar-rahman ar-rahim at the beginning of the srah does not count as a verse of its own for this purpose and should be joined with some portion of the rest of the srah.