If you have ever compared two prayer apps and found Fajr ten minutes apart, neither is necessarily wrong. Prayer times are calculated from the position of the sun, and different Islamic authorities use slightly different sun angles to define dawn and nightfall. Here is what each method means, and which one is used where.
What is being calculated?
Dhuhr, Asr and Maghrib depend on clear events — the sun crossing its highest point, shadow lengths, and sunset — so all methods agree on them (except the Asr school, below). Fajr and Isha are different: they depend on twilight, which fades gradually. Each authority chose an angle of the sun below the horizon that best matched observed true dawn and the end of twilight in their region.
The major methods
| Method | Fajr angle | Isha | Commonly used in |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Islamic Sciences, Karachi | 18° | 18° | India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, parts of the Gulf |
| Muslim World League (MWL) | 18° | 17° | Europe, the Far East, much of the world |
| Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) | 15° | 15° | USA and Canada |
| Egyptian General Authority of Survey | 19.5° | 17.5° | Egypt, Africa, parts of the Levant |
| Umm al-Qura University, Makkah | 18.5° | 90 min after Maghrib | Saudi Arabia |
A larger angle means an earlier Fajr and a later Isha. That is why ISNA’s 15° Fajr can be 15–25 minutes later than Karachi’s 18°.
Hanafi and Shafi’i Asr
The second source of difference is the juristic school for Asr. The Shafi’i, Maliki and Hanbali schools begin Asr when an object’s shadow equals its length (plus the noon shadow). The Hanafi school waits until the shadow is twice the length. Most masjids in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey follow the Hanafi time, which is later.
High latitudes
In summer in places like the UK, the sun may never go 18° below the horizon, so true night does not arrive. Calculations then use an adjustment rule — such as the angle-based method, which divides the night in proportion to the angle — to produce sensible Fajr and Isha times. Ramzan Special applies this automatically above 48° latitude.
What Ramzan Special uses
- India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan: Karachi method with Hanafi Asr.
- Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain: Umm al-Qura with standard Asr.
- UK, Europe, Australia: Muslim World League.
- USA and Canada: ISNA.
You can change both the method and the Asr school from the location button at the top of any page — your choice is saved on your device. Whatever the calculation says, the timetable of your local masjid takes priority for congregational prayer.
Precautionary minutes
Calculations cannot account for your exact elevation, the local horizon or atmospheric refraction on a given day. For this reason Ramzan Special shows Sahri ending a few minutes before Fajr and Iftar a few minutes after sunset. Many masjid timetables in South Asia follow a similar practice.
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