Monday
14 Muharram 1448 AH

The five daily salah are Fajr (before sunrise), Dhuhr (just after solar noon), Asr (mid-afternoon), Maghrib (just after sunset), and Isha (after twilight has faded). They are obligatory for adult Muslims and each has a defined window — the prayer is valid from the moment its time enters until the next prayer's time begins (with Maghrib being the shortest window).

Fajr is the dawn prayer. Its window opens at subh sadiq — true dawn, the first appearance of a horizontal band of light along the eastern horizon — and closes at sunrise. The prayer must be completed before the sun's upper limb breaks the horizon. This is why Fajr time on the widget always sits a fixed number of minutes before sunrise; the exact offset depends on the calculation method.

Dhuhr begins a few minutes after the sun crosses the meridian (solar noon) and runs until Asr. Asr begins when an object's shadow equals its own length plus the noon shadow (Shafi/Maliki/Hanbali) or twice its own length plus the noon shadow (Hanafi). Maghrib begins immediately at sunset and ends when twilight disappears. Isha begins when the red twilight (or full darkness, depending on school) leaves the western sky and runs until midnight or Fajr depending on the school.

Prayer times are anchored to the sun, not the clock. As the earth orbits the sun the times of sunrise, solar noon, and sunset shift by a minute or two each day. Fajr and Isha are tied to twilight, which also drifts seasonally. Over a year your Fajr time can move by an hour or more between summer and winter at Indian latitudes, while Dhuhr — anchored to solar noon — is the most stable through the year.

Each prayer time is computed from the sun's altitude above (or below) the horizon at your latitude and longitude on a given date. Sunrise, solar noon, and sunset come straight from astronomy. Fajr and Isha use a fixed solar depression angle below the horizon to mark the start of true dawn and the end of evening twilight. Asr uses a shadow ratio. The actual numbers used for those angles and ratios depend on the chosen calculation method.

The schools differ mainly on Asr and on the twilight angles used for Fajr and Isha. The Hanafi school uses a shadow ratio of 2 — Asr begins when an object's shadow is twice its own length plus the noon shadow. The Shafi, Maliki, and Hanbali schools use a ratio of 1. As a result Hanafi Asr falls noticeably later in the afternoon. Fajr and Isha angles are set by the calculating authority (University of Islamic Sciences Karachi, Muslim World League, ISNA, Umm al-Qura, and others) rather than by school.

The most widely used method in India and Bangladesh is the University of Islamic Sciences, Karachi method, which sets Fajr and Isha angles at 18° below the horizon. Most Indian mosques and printed timetables follow it, often with the Hanafi Asr rule layered on top. Some communities follow the Muslim World League (18°/17°) or ISNA (15°/15°) methods. Always cross-check with your local mosque's timetable for the method they observe.

India spans roughly 30 degrees of longitude and 8 degrees of latitude, so the sun rises and sets at noticeably different clock times across cities even though the country uses a single time zone. The sun reaches Kolkata roughly 90 minutes before it reaches Mumbai by the wall clock. Latitude differences further shift Fajr and Isha. This is why a single all-India timetable is not accurate — the widget on the Islamic page recomputes times for each supported city.

The Hijri calendar is the Islamic lunar calendar of twelve months totalling 354 or 355 days a year — about eleven days shorter than the solar year. Year 1 AH marks the Prophet Muhammad's migration (hijra) from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. Each month begins with the sighting of the new crescent moon and runs either 29 or 30 days. Unlike the Hindu calendar there is no leap month, so Islamic months drift backward through the seasons by about eleven days per year.

The Hijri date displayed on this page is calculated astronomically — it advances when the new moon is theoretically visible. The traditional date observed in your city depends on a physical sighting of the crescent by local authorities, which can be delayed by cloud cover or a thin moon. As a result the calculated and observed dates can differ by one or sometimes two days, especially near the start of a new month. For religious observances always follow the announcement from your local Islamic authority.

Because the Hijri year is about eleven days shorter than the Gregorian year, each Islamic month — including Ramadan — moves about eleven days earlier in the Gregorian calendar each year. Over a 33-year cycle Ramadan passes through every season. Right now (2026) Ramadan falls in late winter and early spring; a decade ago it fell in summer.

Twelve months, in order: Muharram, Safar, Rabi al-Awwal, Rabi al-Thani, Jumada al-Awwal, Jumada al-Thani, Rajab, Sha'ban, Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhu al-Qa'dah, and Dhu al-Hijjah. Four of these — Muharram, Rajab, Dhu al-Qa'dah, and Dhu al-Hijjah — are considered sacred months in classical Islamic tradition.

Sehri (or suhoor) is the pre-dawn meal eaten during Ramadan before the fast begins. Eating must stop at the moment Fajr time enters — the start of true dawn. The widget shows this as the Fajr time during Ramadan; many Islamic timetables print a separate "Sehri ends" time a few minutes earlier as a precautionary buffer.

Iftar is the meal that breaks the daily Ramadan fast. It is observed at the moment Maghrib time enters — immediately at sunset. The fast is traditionally broken with dates and water before the Maghrib prayer. The Iftar time and Maghrib prayer time are the same; the widget on the Islamic page shows the same minute for both.

At Indian latitudes the daily fast runs from Fajr to Maghrib — roughly 13 to 15 hours depending on the city and the time of year Ramadan falls in. Northern cities like Delhi see slightly longer fasts in summer than southern cities like Chennai. Use the Fajr and Maghrib times shown on the widget to see the exact fast length for your selected city.

Maghrib begins at the moment the sun's upper limb dips below the visible horizon — true sunset. The prayer must be performed promptly; its window is the shortest of the five prayers, ending when the red twilight leaves the western sky and Isha begins. Sunset and Maghrib are effectively the same instant on a clear-horizon calculation.

Fajr opens at true dawn — when the sun is still roughly 18 degrees below the horizon — and closes at sunrise. Sunrise itself is not a prayer time but it marks the end of the Fajr window; salah cannot be offered as the sun is rising. Many timetables print the sunrise time alongside Fajr as a reminder of the cut-off.

Near the Arctic and Antarctic circles, twilight can persist all night in summer and the sun can remain below the horizon all day in winter. Standard angle-based methods fail in these conditions. Scholars use special rules — taking times from the nearest moderate latitude, fixing a proportion of the night, or following Mecca's schedule — to compute Fajr and Isha. This does not affect cities on the Indian subcontinent, which all sit at moderate latitudes where the standard angles work normally.

Three common reasons: a different calculation method (Karachi vs Muslim World League vs ISNA), a different Asr rule (Hanafi vs Shafi), or a precautionary buffer the mosque adds to printed times. Differences are usually two to five minutes. For ritual observance, the time announced at your local mosque is authoritative; the widget on this page is a quick reference, not a substitute.