The Five Daily Prayer Times, Explained

Muslims pray five times a day, and each prayer has its own window of time tied to the position of the sun. That is why prayer times shift a little every day and differ from one city to the next. Here is what each prayer is, when it falls, and how the times are worked out.

The five daily prayers in order

• Fajr — the dawn prayer, before sunrise.
• Dhuhr — the midday prayer, just after the sun passes its highest point.
• Asr — the afternoon prayer, when an object's shadow has lengthened.
• Maghrib — the sunset prayer, just after the sun sets.
• Isha — the night prayer, once twilight has faded.

Sunrise itself is not a prayer, but it marks the end of the Fajr window, so most timetables list it too.

How prayer times are calculated from your location

Prayer times are not fixed clock times. They are calculated from three things: your latitude and longitude, the date, and the position of the sun on that date. Fajr and Isha are defined by how far below the horizon the sun is (its "angle"), while Dhuhr, Asr, and Maghrib follow the sun's height and shadows.

Because the calculation depends on the sun, two mosques in the same city will have nearly identical times, while a mosque a few hundred miles east or west will differ by several minutes. On MosqueIndex, every listing computes these times from that mosque's own coordinates.

Why different apps show slightly different times

Small differences between apps come down to the "calculation method" they use, mainly the sun angles chosen for Fajr and Isha. In North America the most common method is ISNA (Islamic Society of North America), which uses a 15-degree angle. Other methods, such as the Muslim World League, use slightly different angles, so their Fajr and Isha times can vary by a few minutes. None is "wrong"; they are different conventions.

Prayer times near me today

The fastest way to get accurate local times is to open the mosque nearest you and read the times calculated for that exact spot. Browse mosques by state to find one near you, or search your city from the home page.

One reminder: calculated times are careful estimates for planning, and the Friday Jummah prayer time is set by each mosque, not calculated. Always confirm Jummah and congregation times with the mosque directly.