Night prayer times explained: Maghrib to Fajr

The "night" in Islamic law is not midnight on a clock. It is the span from sunset to dawn, and it is divided from there.

The markers

• Maghrib — sunset. The night begins.
• Isha — when the twilight has gone.
• Islamic midnight — the midpoint between Maghrib and Fajr, not 12:00am. In summer at high latitudes this can fall well after 1am.
• The last third — divide Maghrib-to-Fajr into three; the final part is the time of descent described by the Prophet ﷺ. (Sahih al-Bukhari 1145)
• Fajr — true dawn. The night prayer ends.
• Sunrise — no prayer is offered in the moments of the sun rising.

Why times differ between apps

Two things:

1. Calculation method. Muslim World League, Umm al-Qura, ISNA, Egyptian and Karachi each use different sun angles for Fajr and Isha. Choose the one your local mosque uses.
2. Location and timezone. Times shift by minutes across a single city and change nightly. Daylight saving changes them again.

The Tonight page in this app calculates from your chosen location and method, and follows your device timezone including DST.

The best portion

The Prophet ﷺ said: "The most beloved prayer to Allah is the prayer of Dawud: he would sleep half the night, stand a third of it, and sleep a sixth of it." (Sahih al-Bukhari 1131) Sleeping first, then rising, is the pattern.

If you are unsure

Follow your local mosque's timetable where it differs, and ask a qualified scholar about your circumstances.