The Green Islamic Foundation

بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم

الحمد لله رب العالمين و صلاة و سلام على سيدنا محمد و على اله و صحبه

In this second full week of March 2024, Muslims all around the world have commenced the blessed month of Ramadan. In this blessed month, healthy adult resident Muslims are obligated to fast from the light of dawn to the sunset. In our current technological age, many people rely upon prayer timing applications (apps) and websites to determine the entrance of the times of prayer. Most are unaware that the timings for nearly all the prayer times are determined by factors and conditions that may cause a diversity of prayer times. Many may first discover this diversity within Ramadan, particularly for the fajr prayer. Imagine waking up for the pre-dawn (suhur) meal and finding a difference between the prayer schedule provided by the local masjid or Muslim authority and your MuslimPro app. Some Muslims may find this change frustrating because the timings of their masjid may drastically change from what they see when they look at their phones. To avoid this frustration and confusion, Muslims should be educated in the determination of the prayer timings. The education regarding prayer times in the Islamic scholarly tradition is considered an individual obligation (fard ayn) that every Muslim must perform. In other words, just as it is obligatory for one to fast and pray, it is also obligatory for Muslims to learn certain aspects of their religion. How to determine prayer timings has always been among those aspects of Islam that one is obligated to know. This article has been written to provide some clarity regarding this issue.

One of the determining factors that cause a diversity in the prayer timings is the opinion of the various schools of thought (madhahib) of the Islamic tradition. An example of the diversity among the prayer times that are displayed in the settings of prayers apps and websites is for the late afternoon prayer (Asr). Three out of the four madhahib of the Sunni Islamic tradition have determined that the Asr prayer comes in when the shadow is the length of the object of measurement in addition to the size of the shadow at the time when the sun was at its highest point in the sky. The Hanafi school of thought (madhhab), however, determined that the time for Asr prayer commences when the shadow of the object of measurement is twice its size in addition to the size of the shadow at the time when the sun is at its highest point in the sky. In the prayer apps, worshippers have the option to switch between the standard position held by the three madhahib and the Hanafi position. This factor is clear as along as one has access to the study materials of the madhahib themselves or are well versed with their cultural inheritance of the Islamic tradition, which may include naturally following one madhhab as opposed to another.

Another factor that goes into the diversity of prayer times is the reconciliation between the traditional signs of some of the prayer times with modern scientific definitions of astronomical phenomena. In other words, the definitions, and descriptions of the world when the times of the prayers enter are not directly aligned with modern understandings of astronomical characteristics of times of day. It may help at this point to describe when the time for each prayer enters according to the Islamic tradition.

              Fajr: Fajr or Subh is the Dawn prayer. This prayer enters with the first light of dawn which is described by a horizontal ray of light on the horizon which gradually expands making the eastern sky lighter and more colorful until the disc of the sun emerges from the horizon.

              Dhuhr: Dhuhr is the midday prayer. It enters when the sun leaves its highest point in the sky. It is characterized by a lengthening of the shadow at midday.

              Asr: Asr is the late afternoon prayer and was described above.

              Maghrib: Maghrib is the sunset prayer. It enters when the disc of the sun completely disappears below the horizon.

              Isha: Isha prayer is the night prayer. This prayer enters with the loss of twilight in the sky. Twilight is described as the glow of light on the horizon. There are two types of twilight in the evening, red twilight (the red glow on the horizon after the sunset) and white twilight (the white glow on the horizon after the sunset). The madhahib differ as to which twilight establishes the entrance of Isha.

The modern scientific view of astronomical phenomena is defined in the following way by timeanddate.com:

Dawn is defined as a particular moment defined by the solar elevation angle, which is the position of the sun in relation to the horizon. Astronomically there are three stages of dawn, each marking the beginning of one of the three phases of the morning twilight:

Astronomical dawn is defined as when the geometric center of the sun’s disc passes 18 degrees below the horizon and ascends towards the horizon before sunrise. This marks the beginning of astronomical twilight. At this point little light is visible making the beginning astronomical twilight nearly indistinguishable from night. Astronomical twilight ends with nautical dawn.

Nautical dawn is defined as when the geometric center of the sun’s disc reaches passes 12 degrees below the horizon continuing its ascension. This marks the beginning of nautical twilight. At this point, the sunlight reflected by the atmosphere is enough to distinguish the sky from land or water in clear weather conditions and the horizon is slightly visible. This period ends at civil dawn.

Civil dawn, the brightest dawn, is defined as when the geometric center of the sun’s disc passes 6 degrees below the horizon. This marks the beginning of civil twilight. At this point , the sky is clear and is now filled with various bright colors. This twilight ends with the emergence of the upper edge of the disc of the sun from the horizon. (Bikos)[1]

---

[1] Bikos, K. (n.d.). What is dawn?. Dawn – Definition and Meaning. https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/dawn.html#:~:text=Science%20specifies%20dawn%20as%20a%20particular%20moment%20defined,one%20of%20the%20three%20phases%20of%20morning%20twilight%3A

From the above definitions, fajr encompasses the various types of astronomical twilight. The diversity of opinion for fajr stems from seeking to determine when, in these various astronomical twilights does fajr actually enter. It should also be noted that there are two fajrs described in the Islamic tradition. The first is the false fajr. This is described by a vertical ray of light that emerges from the eastern horizon which is followed by further darkness of night. The second type of fajr is the true fajr, which is described above. The astronomical definitions of dawn and twilight may encompass both types of fajrs.

Muslim organizations who reviewed the correlation between the Islamic tradition and scientific understandings have decided to express their determinations of when true fajr enters with the scientific terminology of degrees below the horizon. Below is an example of an article from one of these organizations regarding the determination of which degrees correlate best with true fajr – How should the times of Fajr and Isha be calculated? – Fiqh Council of North America. Leaders of our masajid are also tasked with choosing which of these degrees would best suit their community, particularly for the month of Ramadan.

The fajrs for the month of Ramadan are extremely important because their entrance marks the obligation of two acts of worship. When fajr enters in Ramadan, not only is one obligated to pray but they also must fast from food, drink, and sexual activity. Outside of Ramadan, the entrance of fajr only signifies the obligation of prayer for that time. Therefore, if a determination of the entrance of true fajr is a time after the initial event of true fajr actually occurred, there is no harm done outside of Ramadan as what is important is praying the fajr prayer before the sun rises. However, during Ramadan, if the initial event of true fajr occurred before the time provided by the Muslim authority, the fast of the worshippers following that authority is in jeopardy of being invalidated if they continued any restricted activity after that initial time. Due to desire of protecting worshippers from inadvertently invalidating their fasts during the holy month of Ramadan even before they start, many Muslim authorities choose a more conservative and earlier fajr timing during Ramadan.