Prayer time calculation methods
Sunrise, Dhuhr and Maghrib follow directly from the position of the sun. Fajr and Isha depend on twilight, and organisations define twilight with different angles of the sun below the horizon. That is the main reason timetables differ.
Methods available on MaghribTime
| Method | Fajr | Isha |
|---|---|---|
| Muslim World League UK default | 18° | 17° |
| Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) | 15° | 15° |
| Egyptian General Authority of Survey | 19.5° | 17.5° |
| University of Islamic Sciences, Karachi | 18° | 18° |
| Umm al-Qura University, Makkah | 18.5° | 90 min after Maghrib Many communities add 30 minutes to Isha during Ramadan; this is not applied automatically. |
| Moonsighting Committee Worldwide | 18° with seasonal adjustment | 18° with seasonal adjustment Adds 3 minutes to sunset for Maghrib and 5 minutes to Dhuhr. |
Angles are the sun’s depression below the horizon. Most methods also add a one-minute safety margin to Dhuhr.
Maghrib
In every method above, Maghrib is calculated as sunset: the moment the sun’s upper edge disappears below the horizon, allowing for atmospheric refraction. The Moonsighting Committee method adds three minutes. Mosques sometimes add a few further minutes as a precaution.
On city pages, the “Maghrib period” is shown as running until the calculated Isha time for the selected method. This is a timetable convention, not a ruling on when Maghrib ends.
Asr: Standard or Hanafi
- Standard (Shafiʿi, Maliki, Hanbali): Asr begins when an object’s shadow equals its length plus its noon shadow.
- Hanafi: Asr begins when an object’s shadow is twice its length plus its noon shadow.
The Hanafi Asr time is later, typically by 40 minutes to over an hour in the UK depending on the season.
High latitudes
Across the UK, and especially in Scotland, the sun does not go far enough below the horizon on summer nights for some Fajr and Isha angles to be reached. A high-latitude rule then sets limits. For cities above 48° north we use the “seventh of the night” rule: Fajr is no earlier than one seventh of the night before sunrise, and Isha no later than one seventh of the night after sunset. The Moonsighting Committee method uses its own seasonal adjustment instead.
Which method should I use?
If your local mosque publishes a timetable, choose the method closest to it, or simply follow the mosque. Your choice is saved in your browser and applied to every city page.