Prayer Times Today

The five daily prayers and their times

Muslims pray five obligatory prayers (salah) each day, each within a window defined by the movement of the sun. The Quran describes prayer as having fixed times:

The detailed boundaries of each prayer come from the teaching of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, for example the hadith of Abdullah ibn Amr describing the start and end of every prayer time (Sahih Muslim 612), and the narration of the angel Jibril leading the prayers at their earliest and latest times on two consecutive days (Jami at-Tirmidhi 149, Sunan Abi Dawud 393).

Fajr (dawn prayer)

Begins at true dawn, when light first spreads horizontally across the eastern horizon, and ends at sunrise. Astronomically, this is when the sun is roughly 15° to 20° below the horizon, depending on the method.

Dhuhr (midday prayer)

Begins just after the sun passes its highest point (solar noon) and starts to decline, and lasts until the time of Asr. On Fridays, Jumu'ah is prayed in congregation in its place.

Asr (afternoon prayer)

Begins when the shadow of an object reaches a set length, equal to the object's height under the standard view or twice its height under the Hanafi view (plus the noon shadow in both cases), and lasts until sunset. Delaying it until the sun turns yellow without a reason is disliked.

Maghrib (sunset prayer)

Begins once the whole disc of the sun has set and lasts until the red twilight disappears from the western sky.

Isha (night prayer)

Begins when twilight has disappeared and darkness sets in. Scholars hold that its preferred time ends at the middle of the night (some say a third of the night), while the time of necessity extends until dawn.

Sunrise is listed in every timetable because it marks the end of Fajr. It is not a prayer time; voluntary prayers are not offered while the sun is actually rising.

How prayer times are calculated

Before clocks and astronomical tables, Muslims timed their prayers by watching the sky and the length of shadows. Modern timetables convert those same signs into astronomy. For any date and place, the sun's position can be predicted precisely from the latitude and longitude, so each sign becomes a calculable moment:

• Solar noon (Dhuhr) is when the sun crosses the local meridian. Most methods add a minute or two of caution.
• Sunrise and sunset (end of Fajr, Maghrib) are when the top of the sun's disc touches the horizon, allowing for the bending of light by the atmosphere.
• Dawn and nightfall (Fajr, Isha) are defined by how far the sun is below the horizon: the twilight angle. Different authorities have settled on different angles, which is the main reason timetables differ.
• Asr is found from the sun's altitude at which shadows reach the required length, so it depends on the school of thought.

Times are then converted into the city's local clock time, including daylight saving time where it applies. The calculations on this site use the open-source Adhan astronomical library, and every page lets you choose the method and Asr convention that match your community.

Places at high latitude

North of about 48°, which includes the UK, Scandinavia, much of Canada and northern Europe, the sun does not go far enough below the horizon on summer nights for twilight to end. Pure angle-based Fajr and Isha times then either do not exist or become impractical. Timetables handle this with a rule such as dividing the night into sevenths, using the middle of the night, or borrowing the times of a nearer latitude. Our city pages apply a recognised night-portion rule automatically and say so on the page. Local mosques may choose a different solution, so it is worth comparing in summer.

Calculation methods compared

The table shows the twilight angles used by the main conventions. A higher Fajr angle gives an earlier Fajr; a higher Isha angle gives a later Isha. Where Isha is a fixed interval, it does not depend on the sun's angle.

Some methods also add small fixed adjustments of a few minutes (for example the Diyanet and Dubai methods, and the Moonsighting Committee's margin after noon and sunset). The Tehran method also places Maghrib slightly after sunset, when the sun is 4.5° below the horizon.

None of these methods is "the correct one" in an absolute sense: they reflect different, well-founded judgements about when true dawn and nightfall are observed. The best choice is the one used by your local mosque, so your prayers, fasts and congregation stay in step with your community. For the start and end of Ramadan and Eid, which depend on the moon rather than the sun, see the Islamic calendar and today's Hijri date.

Related tools

• Qibla direction finder: the direction of the Kaaba from where you are.
• Ramadan dates and upcoming Islamic events.
• Tasbih counter for dhikr after prayer.
• Daily duas from the Quran and Sunnah.