SalahTable

Prayer Time Guides

Practical explanations and calculated comparisons to help you read a prayer timetable and understand differences between methods.

Read a timetable

Why Do Prayer Times Differ Between Apps and Mosques?

Prayer times can differ because apps and mosques use different calculation methods, Asr conventions, coordinates or local adjustments. A congregation time (iqamah) is also different from the calculated start of a prayer.

Hanafi vs Shafi Asr Time: Why the Difference Changes

The Hanafi Asr calculation uses a shadow factor of two, while the Shafi‘i, Maliki and Hanbali calculation uses one; both add the shadow already present at solar noon. The resulting time difference varies by city and date.

Fajr 15 vs 18 Degrees: A City and Season Comparison

When both solar angles are reached and no high-latitude limit intervenes, an 18° calculation places Fajr earlier than a 15° calculation. The difference is not a fixed number of minutes: it changes with latitude and season.

Sehri, Imsak and Fajr: How to Read a Ramadan Timetable

Sehri (suhoor) is the pre-dawn meal; Fajr is the dawn prayer start. Some timetables also list an earlier imsak reminder. SalahTable labels the calculated Fajr time “Sehri ends” and does not add a separate imsak offset.

Iftar and Maghrib Time: Which Timetable Column to Read?

Iftar is the meal that breaks the fast, while Maghrib is the sunset prayer. SalahTable uses its calculated Maghrib start for iftar; a mosque’s later congregation time is a separate timetable entry.

Fajr vs Sunrise: Two Different Times on Your Timetable

Fajr marks dawn before sunrise; sunrise is a separate solar event listed later in the timetable. Their calculated gap varies with location, season and the Fajr method, so sunrise should not be read as the sehri cutoff.

Why Qibla Compasses Disagree: True vs Magnetic North

Qibla bearings are measured from true north, while a magnetic compass uses magnetic north. Those reference directions differ by magnetic declination. Sensor interference, location settings and orientation can cause further disagreement.

Prayer Times and Daylight Saving: Why the Clock Jumps

Daylight saving changes the local clock label, not the sun’s position. Around a clock change, a prayer can move by roughly an hour on the timetable while its underlying solar timing changes gradually from one day to the next.

Adhan vs Iqamah: How to Read Prayer Starts and Congregation Times

Adhan is the call to prayer, while Iqamah signals the congregation about to begin. A mosque may schedule its congregation after the prayer start. Compare start columns with start columns and use the mosque’s own schedule for attending.

Why Ramadan Dates Differ Between Countries and Calendars

Communities can follow different calendar criteria, sighting procedures or authorities when determining Ramadan. SalahTable uses Umm al-Qura for expected future dates; that calculation is not an official local moon-sighting announcement.

Sunrise, Ishraq and Duha (Chast) Time: Reading Post-Sunrise Timetable Windows

Standard five-prayer timetables list Fajr, Sunrise and Dhuhr because those are the primary solar boundaries for the morning and midday periods. Schedules that add Ishraq or Duha (Chast) derive them from the span between sunrise and solar noon (shortly before Dhuhr), often starting 15 to 20 minutes after sunrise.

Solar Noon, Zawal and Dhuhr: Why Dhuhr Is Not 12:00 PM

Dhuhr begins after the sun crosses the local meridian (solar noon), not at 12:00 PM on the civil clock. Because of the equation of time, your city’s longitude within its time zone, daylight saving and precautionary offsets (such as +5 minutes in Moonsighting Committee), Dhuhr changes across the year.

Same Time Zone, Different Prayer Times: How Longitude Shifts the Clock

A civil time zone assigns the same clock hour across a wide band of longitudes, but the sun crosses each degree of longitude four minutes later from east to west. Two cities in the same time zone therefore have different sunrise, Dhuhr and Maghrib times.

Calculators and tools

Last Third of the Night Calculator: Maghrib to Fajr

To find the last third of the night with a Maghrib-to-Fajr convention, divide the elapsed time from Maghrib to the following Fajr by three and subtract that duration from Fajr. The calculator below shows both dates and the selected method.

Qibla Day 2027: When the Sun Is Overhead the Kaaba

Twice each year, in late May and mid-July, the sun passes almost directly overhead the Kaaba in Makkah at solar noon. At those two instants, anyone in daylight can face the sun to face the Qibla, while shadows of vertical objects point straight away from it.

Islamic Midnight vs 12:00 AM: Maghrib-to-Fajr Midpoint Calculator

On a prayer timetable, the midpoint of the night is halfway between Maghrib and the following Fajr, rather than 12:00 AM on the civil clock. Because sunset and dawn shift through the year and across daylight saving changes, that midpoint moves each day.

Why Is Qibla Northeast in North America? Great-Circle vs Flat-Map Bearings

On a globe, the shortest line between North America and Makkah (a great circle) curves northeast over the North Atlantic and Europe before turning south toward Arabia. A flat Mercator map stretches high latitudes, making a straight ruler line (a rhumb line) point south of east even though that path is thousands of kilometres longer.

Research and data

Prayer Calculation Methods Compared: A Full-Year 2027 Study

Across four cities and every day of 2027, we compare six calculation presets using the same coordinates and time zones. The tables show signed Fajr and Isha differences from ISNA, plus mean absolute differences over the full year.

Fajr and Isha Through 2027: Seasonal Curves and Extremes

Fajr and Isha change through the year as the sun’s path changes, and daylight saving can add a clock-time jump. This 2027 study checks every date in four cities to find the earliest and latest local clock times for each prayer.

Why UK Mosque Timetables Differ: London, Birmingham and Moonsighting Compared

British mosques do not share one national prayer timetable. In our dated November–December 2026 checks against the Moonsighting Committee preset, East London Mosque began Fajr 3.7 minutes earlier on average while Birmingham Central Mosque began Fajr 10.5 minutes later, and both began Isha about 5 minutes later.

Fixed-Interval vs Angle-Based Isha: Umm al-Qura and Twilight Methods Compared

Some calculation presets place Isha when the sun reaches a chosen twilight angle below the horizon (such as 15°, 17° or 18°), while the Umm al-Qura and Qatar presets place Isha a fixed 90 minutes after Maghrib. The difference between them varies with latitude and season.

Middle of the Night, One-Seventh and Angle Rules at High Latitudes Compared

When the summer sun stays less than 18° (or 15°) below the horizon all night, an angle-based preset needs a fallback rule: dividing the sunset-to-sunrise night in half (Middle of the Night), into sevenths (One-Seventh) or by angle/60 (Twilight Angle). Those three rules produce substantially different summer Fajr and Isha times.

Ramadan 2027 Fasting Hours: How They Change From Day 1 to Day 29

Ramadan 2027 runs from early February to early March, as northern-hemisphere daylight is lengthening and southern-hemisphere daylight is shortening. From Day 1 (8 February) to the last fast on Day 29 (8 March), calculated fasting time grows by 124 minutes in Edinburgh and 106 minutes in London, stays the same in Singapore, and shortens by 64 minutes in Sydney.

More data and tools