Q&A - Salaah Times
Q. Assalamualaikum Please could someone kindly assist with all 5 times namaaz times. A. Wa'alaikum assalaam Times are changing every day and are different depending one one's location. Times of Salaah is one of the qualifications of Salaah, hence it is a very important matter and Muslims should know when the times for each salaah begins and ends. Below is a brief explanation on the times for each Salaah (NB: from the Hanafi point of view) Time of Fajr From the break of dawn upto the first ray of sunrise. The break of dawn (Subh Saadiq) is a light which is seen before sunrise from the east and generally gets more lighter and eventually is spread completely across and then it becomes daylight. As soon as this light of the break of dawn is seen, the time of sehri for fasting finishes and the time of Fajr Namaaz begins. Before this light a seam of whiteness is seen in the middle of the sky from east to west, and underneath it the whole is area is black. The break of dawn comes from underneath this and spread across to the north and south and gets lighter. The whiteness disappears when the light of dawn starts spreading. The long whiteness is known as Subh Kazab and the time of Fajr does not begin with this. Time of Zohr From Zawaal (midday) until everything has reached more than two shadow lengths from it's original shadow at Zawaal (meaning except for it's original shadow length at the time of midday, an additional 2 shadow lengths of it's actual size). For example, say there was a shadow (in the afternoon) of an item, and this shadow was the size of four fingers. Lets say the actual length of the item is eight fingers in size. Therfore the time of Zohr will not finish until the size of the shadow gets to twenty fingers in length. (i.e Since the afternoon shadow is 4 fingers in length, and the actual length is 8 fingers - which we need to double. Thus the end time is calculated as "4 + <8 + 8>" which equals 20.) The original shadow is the shadow which occurs exactly at midday. This is when the sun reaches exactly middle of the sky and the distance of east and west is exactly the same. When the sun moves from this position slightly to the east, the time of Zohr begins. The recognition of the sun moving is by digging a stick upright into the ground, and then the shadow continues to reduce until it cannot reduce anymore, this is exactly the time of midday and is known as the original shadow. When the shadow starts growing again the time of Zohr has begun because the sun has moved. The time of Jumu'ah is the same as the time of Zohr. Time of Asr As soon as the time of Zohr finishes, the time for Asr begins. Depending upon the city and country, the length of Asr varies. The length of the time of Asr is also dependent on the time of the season, i.e. autumn, summer etc. Time for Asr is until Sunset. Time of Maghrib As soon as the sun sets until the dusk (Shafaq) disappears. Dusk is the twilight that is seen after the redness of the sun has gone and is spread like the whiteness of dawn from east then from north to south. The length of the time of Maghrib is exactly the same as the time length of Fajr for that day.
Time of Esha
As soon as the twilight of dusk disappears the time of Esha begins until the break of dawn. As well as the twilight of dusk, there is also a twilight seen after this from north to south but the time of Esha is not based on this second twilight. From the end of the twilight of dusk, Esha has begun and the time of Maghrib has ended.
Time of Witr
The time of Witr is the same as the time of Esha.
Allahu waRasoolahu a'alamu
Q. Assalamualaikum Please could someone kindly assist with all 5 times namaaz times. A. Wa'alaikum assalaam Times are changing every day and are different depending one one's location. Times of Salaah is one of the qualifications of Salaah, hence it is a very important matter and Muslims should know when the times for each salaah begins and ends. Below is a brief explanation on the times for each Salaah (NB: from the Hanafi point of view) Time of Fajr From the break of dawn upto the first ray of sunrise. The break of dawn (Subh Saadiq) is a light which is seen before sunrise from the east and generally gets more lighter and eventually is spread completely across and then it becomes daylight. As soon as this light of the break of dawn is seen, the time of sehri for fasting finishes and the time of Fajr Namaaz begins. Before this light a seam of whiteness is seen in the middle of the sky from east to west, and underneath it the whole is area is black. The break of dawn comes from underneath this and spread across to the north and south and gets lighter. The whiteness disappears when the light of dawn starts spreading. The long whiteness is known as Subh Kazab and the time of Fajr does not begin with this. Time of Zohr From Zawaal (midday) until everything has reached more than two shadow lengths from it's original shadow at Zawaal (meaning except for it's original shadow length at the time of midday, an additional 2 shadow lengths of it's actual size). For example, say there was a shadow (in the afternoon) of an item, and this shadow was the size of four fingers. Lets say the actual length of the item is eight fingers in size. Therfore the time of Zohr will not finish until the size of the shadow gets to twenty fingers in length. (i.e Since the afternoon shadow is 4 fingers in length, and the actual length is 8 fingers - which we need to double. Thus the end time is calculated as "4 + <8 + 8>" which equals 20.) The original shadow is the shadow which occurs exactly at midday. This is when the sun reaches exactly middle of the sky and the distance of east and west is exactly the same. When the sun moves from this position slightly to the east, the time of Zohr begins. The recognition of the sun moving is by digging a stick upright into the ground, and then the shadow continues to reduce until it cannot reduce anymore, this is exactly the time of midday and is known as the original shadow. When the shadow starts growing again the time of Zohr has begun because the sun has moved. The time of Jumu'ah is the same as the time of Zohr. Time of Asr As soon as the time of Zohr finishes, the time for Asr begins. Depending upon the city and country, the length of Asr varies. The length of the time of Asr is also dependent on the time of the season, i.e. autumn, summer etc. Time for Asr is until Sunset. Time of Maghrib As soon as the sun sets until the dusk (Shafaq) disappears. Dusk is the twilight that is seen after the redness of the sun has gone and is spread like the whiteness of dawn from east then from north to south
With regards to other Madhaahib (Shaf'ee, Maliki and Hambali):
Brothers from the other Madhaahib are welcome to correct me, but as far as I know, the only difference is in the ending time of Zohr (and starting of Asr). Imaam Aazam Abu Haneefa Rahmatullah alaih has issued strict verdict that Asr can only be performed after the 2 shadow lengths from the original shadow. Details of this is even reported in 'Ala Hazrat's Malfooz Shareef. I don't have Al-Malfooz al-Shareef infront of me, but if I'm not mistaken, this matter is explained in Volume 1.
