Salah times
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Salat times are
Prayer times are standard for Muslims in the world, especially the
Most Muslims pray five times a day, with their prayers being known as
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 red twilight from the west.[7] In a mosque, the muezzin broadcasts the call to prayer at the beginning of each interval. Because the start and end times for prayers are related to the solar diurnal motion, they vary throughout the year and depend on the local latitude and longitude when expressed in local time.[8][note 1] In modern times, various religious or scientific agencies in Muslim countries produce annual prayer timetables for each locality, and electronic clocks capable of calculating local prayer times have been created.[9] In the past, some mosques employed astronomers called the muwaqqits who were responsible for regulating the prayer time using mathematical astronomy.[8]
The five intervals were defined by Muslim authorities in the decades after the death of Muhammad in 632, based on the hadith (the reported sayings and actions) of the Islamic prophet.
Daily prayers
The five 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.[10][3][11]
Compulsory (fard) prayer | Prescribed time | ![]() The prescribed times of the prayers depicted in place of the position of the sun in the sky, relative to the worshipper. |
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Fajr
|
Begins at dawn, may be performed up to sunrise after Fajr nafl prayer | |
Zuhr | From when the sun has passed the zenith, 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][b] | |
Maghrib
|
Begins at sunset, may be performed up to the end of dusk. | |
Isha[c] | Begins with the night, may be delayed up to dawn although disliked[b] | |
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Fajr (dawn)
Fajr begins at subh saadiq—true dawn or the beginning of twilight, when the morning light appears across the full width of the sky—and ends at sunrise.
Dhuhr (midday)
The time interval for offering the Zuhr or Dhuhr salah timing starts after the sun passes its zenith[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.
Shia differs regarding the end of Dhuhr time. Per all major Jafari jurists, the end of Dhuhr time is about 10 minutes before Asr. Dhuhr and Asr time overlap, apart from the first 5 minutes of Dhuhr, which is exclusively delegated for it. Asr prayer cannot be offered before Dhuhr.
Asr (afternoon)
The Asar prayer starts when the shadow of an object is the same length as the object itself (or, according to
Shia (Jafari madhab) differs regarding start of Asr time. Per all major Jafari jurists,[citation needed] start of Asr time is about 5 minutes after the time of sun passing through zenith, that time belongs exclusively to Dhuhr prayer. Time for Dhuhr and Asr prayers overlap, but the Dhuhr prayer must be offered before Asr, except the time about 10 minutes before sunset, which is delegated exclusively to Asr. In the case that the mentioned time is reached, Asr prayer should be offered first (ada - on time) and Dhuhr (kada - make up, late) prayer should be offered after Asr.
Maghrib (sunset)
The Maghrib prayer begins when the sun sets, and lasts until the red light has left the sky in the west.
Isha (nights)
The Isha'a or Isha prayer starts at civil dusk when the darkness starts to spread across the sky, and lasts until nautical dusk when the western horizon gets completely dark and cannot be observed through naked eye.
Time calculation
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Equation_of_time.svg/220px-Equation_of_time.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Sun-declination.jpg/220px-Sun-declination.jpg)
To calculate prayer times two
In addition to the above measures, to calculate prayer times for a specific location we need its spherical coordinates.[14]
In the following;
- is the time zone.
- and denotes the equation of time term and the declination 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:
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 timezone.
The other times require converting the Sun's altitude to time. We use a variant of the generalized sunrise equation:
This gives, in hours, the difference between Dhuhr time and when the sun is at altitude . Now we calculate three of the other prayer times:
- Sunrise (Shuruq) time and Sunset (Maghrib) times are given by . (The astronomical sunset/sunrise that occurs at , but atmospheric refraction makes the sun appear 50 arcminutes higher.) So and .
- If we consider the elevation of the point we should add to 0.833°, where h is the elevation in meters (see Sunrise 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 exist. It is of 17 and 18 degrees respectively for Fajr and Isha prayers according to the Muslim World League. As a result, we have and .
- The Asr time is defined in term of the length of its shadow, with differing opinions about how much longer the shadow is. Let be the required length of the object shadow relative to its own length. We first find the Sun's altitude as The Asr time is then given as where the ratio n 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 a muezzin in order to keep an accurate prayer schedule.[15]
See also
Notes
- ^ For the day-to-day variation of the prayer times, see, for example, a prayer timetable for Banyuasin, Indonesia, for the month of Ramadan in 2012.
References
- ISBN 978-0-495-55418-9.
- ISBN 9780674033764.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-974567-8.
- ^ Jafarli, Durdana. "The historical conditions for the emergence of the Quranist movement in Egypt in the 19th-20th centuries." МОВА І КУЛЬТУРА (2017): 91.
- ISBN 978-90-04-07819-2.
- ^ Heinz, Justin Paul (2008). The Origins of Muslim Prayer: Sixth and Seventh Century Religious Influences on the Salat Ritual. University of Missouri. pp. 115, 123, 125, 133, 141–142.
- ISBN 978-90-04-09419-2.
- ^ ISBN 90-04-10119-5.
- ISBN 978-90-04-09419-2.
- ISBN 9780674033764.
- ^ Jafarli, Durdana. "The historical conditions for the emergence of the Quranist movement in Egypt in the 19th-20th centuries." МОВА І КУЛЬТУРА (2017): 91.
- ^ "A Shi'ite Encyclopedia". Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project. 12 November 2013.
- ^ Approximate Solar Coordinates
- ^ Calculating Prayer Times
- S2CID 143513427.
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