Prayer Times
There are plenty of apps that give you prayer timings and alarms to remind you to pray them. I use an app called Athan Islamic Finder. You can click on this name to follow the link to help you acquire it. It is free.
The Five Obligatory Prayers
Allah says in the Quran, “Perform the (obligatory) formal prayer from when the sun is at its zenith until the dusk of the night; and recite the Quran in the early dawn; verily the Quran of the early dawn is ever witnessed.” (Quran 17:78)
The sun at its zenith is the time Dhuhr enters. And the end of twilight, or nightfall, is the time ‘Isha enters. Between these two prayers are ‘Asr. in the late afternoon, and Macghreb, just after sunset. All on its own, just before sunrise, is the Fajr, which is one of the two prayers that sees the Angels change watch.
The Prophet ﷺ said, “The Angels of the night and the Angels of the day descend amongst you in shifts. They meet at the dawn prayer and at the evening prayer. Those Angels who had been with you through the night ascend, and their Lord asks them, though He knows best about you, “How did you leave my servants?” They say, “We came to them when they were praying and left them when they were praying.” (Sahih Bukhari)
Because they change watch while it is being prayed, two watches of Angels witness both the Dawn Prayer and the Evening Prayer, the prayers at either end of the day, one of which is “the middle prayer” which is a prayer we should especially keep, according to Quran 2:238.
A report from the Messenger ﷺ of Allah transmitted by two of his companions, Jabir and Ibn Abbas, clarifies the timing of the obligatory prayers. These times are shown in the diagram above this article.
You should pray the Noon Prayer (Dhuhr) when the sun begins to decline from the Zenith to beginning of the time for the Evening Prayer. However you should avoid praying just before it ascends to the zenith because Islam distances Allah worship from Sun Worship.
The Evening Prayer (‘Asr) begins as the sun declines halfway to the horizon and stops when it halves the declination again. That is, three quarters of the way to sundown from noon. The scholars of Islam often allow praying later than this as long as one does not pray just before the sun sets. The Hadith, however, shows a clear gap between the end of the Evening Prayer and the Sunset Prayer.
The Sunset Prayer (Maghreb) must be prayed straight after sunset is complete, while the twilight still allows you to see your path home clearly. In tropical areas, the period allowed for it is about a quarter of an hour.
After a gap lasting about an eighth of the night, just as dusk approaches nightfall, the Dusk Prayer (‘Isha) is prayed. Once a quarter of the night has passed, the obligatory declining prayers have finished.
The next time for prayer begins at the start of morning twilight. The time for the Dawn Prayer (Fajr) finishes just when the sun peeps over the horizon. At this point begins another period when praying is forbidden because Allah dissociates Himself from sun worship. However, once the sun is two sun widths above the horizon, the ban lifts. The hadith describing the timings is narrated from the companions (Sahaba) Ibn Abbas and Jabir, in Jami` at-Tirmidhi (1:2/149).
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