When to Pray: The Five Prayer Times

The five prayers are not set by the clock. They are set by the sun — which is why the times shift a little every day, differ between cities, and change dramatically with the seasons if you live somewhere far north.

Once you understand what each prayer is anchored to, the whole thing stops feeling arbitrary.

The quickest answer

Find your nearest masjid's website or app, and use their times.

Most masjids now have one, and it is free. It will give you the day's times, an adhan alert for each prayer, and often the Jumu'ah time as well.

This is better than a generic prayer app for a reason that matters: it uses the same calculation your community uses. When you eventually pray at that masjid, your phone and their clock will agree. Set your alerts from your masjid, and you never have to think about the maths again.

It also quietly connects you to that masjid before you have set foot in it, which is no bad thing.

The five, and what each is anchored to

Fajr — dawn

Begins at true dawn, when the first light spreads horizontally across the horizon, and ends at sunrise. Two rakʿah.

This is the hardest one, and the one most reverts struggle with first. Its window is short — in winter it may be under two hours — and it ends the moment the sun appears.

Dhuhr — after midday

Begins just after the sun passes its highest point, and runs until mid-afternoon. Four rakʿah.

Note that it does not begin at noon on the clock. It begins when the sun has visibly started to descend, which in summer daylight saving can be well after one o'clock.

ʿAṣr — mid-afternoon

Begins when an object's shadow reaches a certain length, and ends at sunset. Four rakʿah.

This is the one where apps disagree with each other — see below.

Maghrib — just after sunset

Begins the moment the sun has fully set, and ends when the red glow leaves the sky. Three rakʿah.

The shortest window of the five. Pray it promptly rather than leaving it.

ʿIshā' — night

Begins when the twilight has gone and full darkness has arrived. It runs until true dawn, though it should not be delayed past the middle of the night without reason. Four rakʿah.

Why two apps show different times

You will notice this and wonder which is broken. Neither is.

Three of the five are astronomically fixed. Midday, sunset and the shadow are observable events — every method agrees on Dhuhr and Maghrib almost to the minute.

Fajr and ʿIshā' are not. They depend on how far the sun has to be below the horizon before dawn is judged to have broken or twilight to have ended. Different scholarly bodies set that angle differently — and a difference of a few degrees is a difference of fifteen or twenty minutes on your phone.

You will see method names in the settings: ISNA, Muslim World League, Umm al-Qura, Egyptian General Authority. In North America many masjids use ISNA. Set your app to whichever your masjid uses, and then stop comparing.

◇ Scholars differ

ʿAṣr. The majority hold it begins when an object's shadow equals its own length. The Hanafi school holds it begins when the shadow reaches twice the object's length. This is why two apps can show ʿAṣr an hour apart and both be correct.

It is not a small difference in practice. Follow your masjid, so that you are praying with your community rather than an hour ahead of it.

Times when you should not pray

There are three short windows in the day when voluntary prayer is not offered:

• As the sun is rising — from the moment it appears until it has risen clear of the horizon, roughly fifteen or twenty minutes.
• When the sun is at its highest — a few minutes either side of midday, until it has visibly begun to descend.
• As the sun is setting — from when it begins to sink and yellow until it has fully gone.

These do not stop you praying an obligatory prayer whose time has come, and they do not stop you making up a prayer you missed. They are about voluntary prayers.

◇ Scholars differ

The schools differ on which prayers are excepted from these windows — particularly prayers with a specific cause, such as the two rakʿah on entering a masjid. Ask your imam.

If you live somewhere far north

This matters in Canada and it will affect you.

In high summer above roughly the fifty-fifth parallel — Edmonton, Calgary, most of the prairie provinces, anywhere further north — the sky may never become fully dark. Twilight simply persists until dawn begins. The astronomical event that ʿIshā' depends on does not occur.

Scholars have established methods for this — estimating from the nearest latitude where night does occur, or dividing the night into portions. Different masjids apply different ones, which is why northern prayer timetables can look strange in June.

Do not work this out for yourself. Use your masjid's timetable and ask them which method they follow. This is precisely the situation their timetable exists to solve.

Practical, for the first month

• Turn on the adhan alerts. All five. You will not remember otherwise, and the aim is for the prayer to interrupt your day rather than to be fitted around it.
• Pray at the beginning of the window where you can. Praying early is better, and it removes the risk of the time running out while you finish one more thing.
• Learn the shape of your day — roughly when each prayer falls in this season, so you can plan around it rather than being ambushed.
• Watch the seasons. In a northern winter, Dhuhr and ʿAṣr may be only two hours apart and Maghrib may arrive before you have left work. In summer, Fajr may be before four in the morning. The times move a great deal — check the timetable rather than relying on habit.