Muslim prayer times in Pointe-Noire, Congo

The names of five obligatory Muslim prayers are Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha. The prescribed time for each of the prayers depends on the position of the sun. For that reason namaz times vary from day to day and from place to place. To calculate namaz times correctly you must know the place coordinates and current date.

Fajr — the first prayer of the day at dawn. Fajr starts when the sunlight appears across the full width of the sky. Fajr ends on sunrise.

Sunrise — the time when the first beam of the sun appears above the horizon.

Dhuhr — the midday prayer. Dhuhr starts soon after the sun reaches its highest point (zenith) and begins to decline. Dhuhr ends when Asr begins.

Asr — the mid-afternoon prayer. There are two acceptable juristic definitions for the beginning of Asr:

• When the shadow of an object becomes equal to its length
• When the shadow of an object becomes two times its length

Asr ends when the sun begins to set.

Sunset — time when the sun goes below the horizon.

Maghrib — the prayer at sunset. Maghrib starts after the sun goes below the horizon. Maghrib ends when Isha begins.

Isha — the night prayer at dusk. Isha starts when the sky becomes dark and there is no scattered light.

The times of dawn prayer Fajr and night prayer Isha are based on astronomical twilight time. During astronomical twilight the center of the sun is between 12 and 18 degrees below the horizon. When sun is below 18° the sky is completely dark. Various Islamic organizations use different twilight angles between 15 and 19.5 degrees to determine Fajr and Isha time. The smaller twilight angles will generate later Fajr times and earlier Isha times.

At extreme latitudes near or to the north of the Arctic Circle and near or to the south of the Antarctic circle for certain time of the year the sun doesn't go much below the horizon. As a consequence the sky is never completely dark. There are various methods of calculating Fajr and Isha times for such latitudes:

• Nearest latitude. Use a 48° latitude to determine intervals between Fajr and sunrise as well as between sunset and Isha.
• Nearest day. Use the nearest day when it was possible to calculate Fajr and Isha times in a standard way for this location.
• Middle of the night. Find the middle point between sunset and sunrise. The time for Isha is some time before the midddle of the night, and the time for Fajr is some time after the midddle of the night.
• One seventh of the night. Divide the interval between sunset and sunrise into seven equal intervals. The time for Isha is after the first interval and the time for Fajr is after the sixth interval.

Detailed explanations of Muslim prayer time calculation rules can be found in The Determination of Salaat Times by Dr.Monzur Ahmed.

For namaz time calculations we use computer programs based on Pray Times project by Hamid Zarrabi-Zadeh.

In our namaz time calculations for high latitudes we use middle of the night method.

For each city we choose a particular point inside the city as the "city centre" and calculate namaz times for the city using its "city centre" coordinates. Namaz times for other points inside or near these cities will slightly differ from our calculation.

All the prayer times on this page are provided only as a reference. You might need to consult your local mosque to select a calculation method and determine namaz times which are acceptable for you.

Pointe-Noire, Congo