Salat times areprayer times whenMuslims performsalat. The term is primarily used for the five daily prayers including theFriday prayer, which takes the place of the Dhuhr prayer and must be performed in a group. Muslims believe the salah times were revealed byAllah toMuhammad.

Prayer times are standard for Muslims in the world, especially thefard prayer times. They depend on the condition of theSun and geography. There are varying opinions regarding the exact salah times, theschools of Islamic thought differing in minor details. All schools of thought agree that any given prayer cannot be performed before its stipulated time.

Muslims pray a minimum of five times a day, with their fard (obligatory) prayers being known asFajr (before dawn),Dhuhr (noon),Asr (late afternoon),Maghrib (at sunset), andIsha (nighttime), always facing towards theKaaba.^[1] The direction of prayer is called theqibla; the early Muslims initially prayed in the direction ofJerusalem before this was changed to Mecca in 624 CE, about a year afterMuhammad'smigration to Medina.^[2][3]

The timing of the five prayers are fixed intervals defined by daily astronomical phenomena. For example, the Maghrib prayer can be performed at any time after sunset and before the disappearance of the redtwilight from the west.^[4] In a mosque, themuezzin broadcasts thecall to prayer at the beginning of each interval. Because the start and end times for prayers are related to the solardiurnal motion, they vary throughout the year and depend on the local latitude and longitude when expressed inlocal time.^{[5][note 1]} In modern times, various religious or scientific agencies in Muslim countries produce annual prayer timetables for each locality, andelectronic clocks capable of calculating local prayer times have been created.^[6] In the past, some mosques employed astronomers called themuwaqqits who were responsible for regulating the prayer time using mathematical astronomy.^[5]

The five intervals were defined by Muslim authorities in the decades after the death ofMuhammad in 632, based on thehadith (the reported sayings and actions) of the Islamic prophet.

The daily prayers are considered obligatory (fard) by many and they are performed at times determined essentially by the position of the Sun in the sky. Hence, salat times vary at different locations on the Earth.Wudu is needed for all of the prayers.

Some Muslims pray three times a day.^[7][8][9]

Overview of prayer times considered obligatory by most^[10]

Compulsory (fard) prayer	Prescribed time	Fajr prayer   Zuhr prayer   Asr prayer   Maghrib prayer   Isha prayer The prescribed times of the prayers depicted in place of the position of the sun in the sky, relative to the worshipper.
Fajr	Begins atdawn, may be performed up tosunrise afterFajr nafl prayer
Zuhr	From when the sun has passed thezenith, may be performed up to the time of Asr.
Asr	From when the shadow cast by an object is once or twice its length, may be performed up to the time of Maghrib.[a]
Maghrib	Begins at sunset, may be performed up to the end of dusk.
Isha[b]	Begins with thenight, may be delayed up to dawn although disliked[c]
^According toImam Abu Hanifa, "Asr starts when the shadow of an object becomes twice its height (plus the length of its shadow at the start time of Zuhr)." For the rest of Imams, "Asr starts when the shadow of an object becomes equal to its length (plus the length of its shadow at the start time of Zuhr)." Asr ends as the sun begins to set. ^Further information on the usage of the word "Isha" (evening) seeQuran12:16, Quran79:46 ^According to Shia Muslims, Asr prayer and Isha prayer have no set times but are said any time starting from midday. Zuhr and Asr prayers must be offered before sunset, and the time for Asr starts after Zuhr has been prayed. Maghrib and Isha prayers must be offered before midnight, and the time for Isha prayer can start after Maghrib has been prayed, as long as no more light remains in the western sky signifying the arrival of the true night.

Fajr begins atsubh saadiq—truedawn or the beginning of twilight, when the morning light appears across the full width of the sky—and ends at sunrise.

The time interval for offering the Zuhr or Dhuhr salah timing starts after the sun passes itszenith^{[clarification needed]} and lasts until call for the Asr prayer is given.^{[according to whom?][clarification needed]} This prayer needs to be given in the middle of the work-day, and people normally make their prayers during their lunch break.

Asr salat is the third of theobligatory prayers that Muslims offer daily.^[11] It is also known as “middle prayer." The Asr prayer starts when the shadow of an object is the same length as the object itself (or, according toHanafi school, twice its length)^{[citation needed]} plus the shadow length at Dhuhr, and lasts till the start of sunset. Asr can be split into two sections; the preferred time is before the sun starts to turn orange, while the time of necessity is from when the sun turns orange until 15 minutes before Maghrib.

The Maghrib prayer begins, when the sun sets, and lasts until the red light has left the sky in the west.

The Isha'a or Isha prayer starts when the red twilight disappears from the west, and lasts until the middle of the night, which is the middle point between Maghrib Salat and Fajr salaat (others say it’s third of the night, or until fajr time)

To calculate prayer times twoastronomical measures are necessary, the declination of the sun and the difference between clock time andsundial clock. This difference being the result of the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit and the inclination of its axis, it is called theequation of time. The declination of the sun is the angle between sun's rays and the equator plan.^[12]

In addition to the above measures, to calculate prayer times for a specific location we need its spherical coordinates.^[13]

In the following;

• ${\displaystyle Z}$ is the time zone.
• ${\displaystyle \lambda }$ and${\displaystyle \varphi }$ are thelongitude and thelatitude of the considered point, respectively.
• ${\displaystyle \mathrm{\Delta }t}$ and${\displaystyle \delta }$ denotes the equation of time term and thedeclination of the Sun for a given date, respectively.

We first give the midday (Dhuhr) time. The midday time is simply when the local true solar time reaches noon:

$${\displaystyle T_{\mathsf{D}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{u}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{r}}=12+\mathrm{\Delta }t+(Z-\lambda /15)}$$

The first term is the 12 o'clock noon, the second term accounts for the difference between true and mean solar times, and the third term accounts for the difference between the local mean solar time and the time zone.

The other times require converting the Sun's altitude to time. We use a variant of thegeneralized sunrise equation:

$${\displaystyle T(\alpha )=\frac{1}{15}\arccos \left(\frac{-\sin (\alpha )-\sin (\varphi )\sin (\delta )}{\cos (\varphi )\cos (\delta )}\right)}$$

This gives, in hours, the difference between Dhuhr time and when the sun is at altitude${\displaystyle \alpha }$. Now we calculate three of the other prayer times:

• Sunrise (Shuruq) time and Sunset (Maghrib) times are given by${\displaystyle T(-{0.833}^{\circ })}$. (The astronomical sunset/sunrise that occurs at${\displaystyle \alpha =0}$, but atmospheric refraction makes the sun appear 50 arcminutes higher.) So${\displaystyle T_{\mathsf{S}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{u}\mathsf{r}\mathsf{u}\mathsf{q}}=T_{\mathsf{D}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{u}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{r}}-T({0.833}^{\circ })}$ and${\displaystyle T_{\mathsf{M}\mathsf{a}\mathsf{g}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{r}\mathsf{i}\mathsf{b}}=T_{\mathsf{D}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{u}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{r}}+T({0.833}^{\circ })}$.
  • If we consider the elevation of the point we should add${\displaystyle {0.0347}^{\circ }\times \sqrt{h}}$ to 0.833°, whereh is the elevation in meters (seeSunrise equation § Hour angle).
  • Maghrib prayer is called for when the sun is completely folded behind the horizon, plus 3 minutes by precaution.
• For Fajr and Isha many conventions about the angle${\displaystyle \alpha }$ exist. It is of 17 and 18 degrees respectively for Fajr and Isha prayers according to theMuslim World League. As a result, we have${\displaystyle T_{\mathsf{F}\mathsf{a}\mathsf{j}\mathsf{r}}=T_{\mathsf{D}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{u}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{r}}-T({18}^{\circ })}$ and${\displaystyle T_{\mathsf{I}\mathsf{s}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{a}}=T_{\mathsf{D}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{u}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{r}}+T({17}^{\circ })}$.
• The Asr time is defined in term of the length of its shadow, with differing opinions about how much longer the shadow is. Let${\displaystyle n}$ be the required length of the object shadow relative to its own length. We first find the Sun's altitude as${\displaystyle A(n)=\mathrm{arccot}(n+\left|\tan (\varphi -\delta )\right|).}$ The Asr time is then given as${\displaystyle T_{\mathsf{S}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{u}\mathsf{r}\mathsf{u}\mathsf{q}}=T_{\mathsf{D}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{u}\mathsf{h}\mathsf{r}}+T(A(n)),}$ where the ration is 1 or 2 depending on jurisprudence.
  • It is possible to also correct for atmospheric refraction, but most sources do not do so. After all, the refraction error is much smaller for α > 10°.

Muslims use readily available apps on their phone to find daily prayer times in their locality. Technological advances have allowed for products such as software-enhanced azan clocks that use a combination of GPS and microchips to calculate these formulas. This allows Muslims to live further away from mosques than previously possible, as they no longer need to rely solely on amuezzin in order to keep an accurate prayer schedule.^[14]

• Canonical hours
• Direction of prayer
• Watchkeeping
• Zmanim

• PrayTimes.org
• Islamic Prayer Times

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