How prayer times are calculated

Fajr and Isha: why the angles matter

Most calculation methods estimate Fajr and Isha from how far the sun is below the horizon. For the same location and date, a larger Fajr angle generally produces an earlier Fajr; a larger Isha angle produces a later Isha. Some methods instead place Isha a fixed number of minutes after Maghrib. Seasonal and high-latitude rules can also affect the result.

Compare our country defaults

These are the website’s configured defaults, not official timetables or a claim that everyone in a country uses one method. Angles alone do not reproduce a full method: the library also applies its method-specific adjustments. Countries without a specific preset use Muslim World League (18° Fajr, 17° Isha).

For Morocco we use 19° / 17° and add five minutes to Dhuhr and Maghrib. For the UK the Moonsighting Committee preset includes seasonal rules. The Umm al-Qura preset uses a 90-minute Isha interval; these city pages do not add Ramadan’s additional 30 minutes automatically. Check your local Ramadan timetable.

Hanafi and standard Asr

The standard Asr calculation uses an object’s shadow reaching its own length plus its shadow at solar noon. The Hanafi calculation uses twice its length plus the noon shadow, so Asr begins later. Our defaults select Hanafi Asr for Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Turkey; other countries use the standard calculation. Match the convention followed by your local community.

Why your mosque may show a different time

A mosque may use different coordinates, twilight rules, rounding or safety margins. Its displayed time may also be iqamah, the congregational start, rather than the beginning of the prayer window. Our city pages calculate times at the listed city coordinates; they do not provide mosque-specific iqamah times. Compare the method, Asr convention and time zone before comparing individual minutes.

Daylight saving changes the local clock, not the sun’s position. City pages apply the city’s time zone. At polar latitudes, where sunrise or sunset may not occur, our calculator uses the library’s nearest-location fallback; an estimated result needs particular care when comparing with local guidance.

Sources and attribution

Calculations use Adhan. Its calculation parameters guide documents angles, offsets and high-latitude rules. City names, coordinates and time zones come from GeoNames under CC BY 4.0.

Find your city’s prayer times and calculation settings · Prayer times and Athan reminders for Mac