How Are Islamic Prayer Times Calculated?

Sunrise, solar noon and sunset are fixed by geometry for any point on Earth. Dhuhr is anchored to solar noon (when the sun crosses the meridian), and Maghrib to sunset. Asr is set by shadow length. The two harder times are Fajr and Isha, which depend on twilight.

Fajr begins when the sun is a set number of degrees below the horizon before sunrise, and Isha when it reaches a similar depth after sunset. Common choices are 18° (dawn is faint) down to 15°. A larger angle means an earlier Fajr and a later Isha. Different authorities use slightly different angles — which is why two apps can disagree by a few minutes.

The further you are from the equator, the more the length of day swings across the year, so summer Fajr comes very early and Isha very late. Your longitude within a timezone shifts solar noon (and therefore Dhuhr) earlier or later on the clock. This is why prayer times must be calculated for each city rather than copied between them.

Standard calculations assume a flat horizon at sea level. In a valley the sun drops behind the surrounding hills before it reaches the true horizon, and high on a mountain you keep seeing it a little longer. When you share your location, MawaqitGo adjusts sunrise and Maghrib for the terrain around you using elevation data, which can move them by a few minutes in hilly places. Official timetables published by a mosque or religious authority are always shown exactly as published.

The specific angles and conventions are bundled into a named calculation method — Muslim World League, ISNA, Umm al-Qura and others. Each MawaqitGo city page states which method it uses for that region.