Why timetables differ, and how to set any prayer calculator so it matches your local masjid.
Every prayer time is fixed by the sun. Dhuhr is solar noon; sunrise and Maghrib are the moments the sun’s upper edge crosses the horizon (a depression angle of 0.833°, which accounts for the sun’s size and atmospheric refraction). Fajr and Isha happen during twilight, when the sun is a set number of degrees below the horizon — and that is exactly where methods differ: each authority has measured and agreed its own twilight angles.
| Method | Fajr angle | Isha | Commonly used in |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Islamic Sciences, Karachi | 18° | 18° | Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan |
| Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) | 15° | 15° | USA and Canada |
| Muslim World League (MWL) | 18° | 17° | Europe, the Far East, parts of the Americas |
| Egyptian General Authority of Survey | 19.5° | 17.5° | Egypt and much of Africa |
| Umm al-Qura University, Makkah | 18.5° | Maghrib + 90 min | Saudi Arabia (the Haramain timetable) |
Asr is not an angle but a shadow ratio. Measure a vertical object at solar noon: it already casts a short shadow. In the Shafi school (also Maliki and Hanbali), Asr begins when the shadow grows to equal the object’s height plus that noon shadow — calculation factor 1. In the Hanafi school, Asr begins when the shadow reaches twice the height plus the noon shadow — factor 2. Because the sun must travel further, Hanafi Asr is later. Pakistan follows the Hanafi school, so it is the default on this site; the toggle is on every prayer page.
Above roughly 48° latitude there are summer nights when true twilight never ends. Rather than failing, this site caps Fajr and Isha with the Angle-Based method recommended for such regions: the night is divided in proportion to the twilight angle (angle ÷ 60 of the night). Alternatives you may see elsewhere are Middle of the Night and One Seventh; Angle-Based tracks the season most smoothly.
1. Set your exact city — a city-centre coordinate can differ from a suburb by a minute or two. 2. Match the method. 3. Match the Asr school. 4. Remember many masjids add one to five precautionary minutes for congregation times; the beginning times should then agree closely.
Choose the method your country or local masjid uses. In Pakistan, India and Bangladesh that is almost always the University of Islamic Sciences, Karachi. In North America: ISNA. In most of Europe and much of the world: Muslim World League. In Egypt: the Egyptian General Authority. In Saudi Arabia: Umm al-Qura.
Both mark Asr by shadows. In the Shafi school (factor 1), Asr starts when an object’s shadow equals its height, plus the noon shadow. In the Hanafi school (factor 2), it starts when the shadow is twice the height. Hanafi Asr is therefore later — often by 45 to 75 minutes.
Masjids often add precautionary (ihtiyat) minutes, round times, or use their exact neighbourhood coordinates instead of the city centre. A difference of one to three minutes is normal; check that the method and Asr settings match first.
At high latitudes the sun may never dip 18° below the horizon. This site then applies the Angle-Based rule: Fajr and Isha are set to a fixed fraction (angle ÷ 60) of the night, which is the standard approach used by most fiqh councils for such places.
No. Maghrib is sunset in all five methods. Methods differ in the Fajr and Isha twilight angles (and Umm al-Qura sets Isha as 90 minutes after Maghrib instead of an angle).
This guide explains the two choices hidden inside every prayer-time calculation, so you can set any of the Loona prayer tools with confidence. The first choice is the calculation method — an agreed pair of twilight angles that fixes Fajr and Isha. The second is the Asr school — a shadow factor of 2 (Hanafi) or 1 (Shafi) that fixes Asr. The table on this page lists the five methods built into all the Loona tools, with their angles and the regions that use them; Dhuhr (solar noon) and Maghrib (sunset) come out the same under every method.
Take Faisalabad on Saturday 7 November 2026. With the Karachi method (18°/18°), Fajr is 5:05 AM and Isha 6:37 PM. Switch to ISNA (15°/15°) and Fajr moves to 5:19 AM while Isha moves to 6:23 PM — 14 minutes each way. Keep Karachi but switch Asr from Hanafi to Shafi and only one time changes: Asr moves from 3:37 PM to 2:52 PM, a 45-minute shift, while the other five times do not move at all.
It is how far the centre of the sun must sink below the horizon before the sky counts as dark enough to mark Fajr or Isha. A bigger angle means the sun is deeper down, so Fajr comes earlier in the morning and Isha later at night — which is why the 18° methods give longer ‘nights’ than the 15° method.
Their Fajr times match exactly, but Isha differs, because MWL uses 17° for Isha against Karachi’s 18°. On 7 November 2026 in Faisalabad, MWL Isha is 6:32 PM while Karachi Isha is 6:37 PM — the same dawn, a five-minute difference at night.
Because the Umm al-Qura calendar does not define Isha by twilight at all. It sets Isha a fixed 90 minutes after Maghrib throughout the year, so on the Makkah setting the gap between Maghrib and Isha never grows or shrinks with the seasons, unlike the angle-based methods.
Yes: use the method of the place you are in, or whatever your local masjid there follows. The angles are regional conventions rather than a single worldwide standard, so the sensible setting travels with you — ISNA in North America, MWL across much of Europe, Karachi in Pakistan.
Compare the two settings, not the times. Open the app’s settings, note its method and Asr school, then choose the same pair on any Loona prayer page; in almost every case the times then agree within a minute, and any remaining gap is usually a precautionary adjustment one side has added.
Accurate daily Salah times for any city in the world, with five calculation methods and Hanafi or Shafi Asr.
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