Muslims pray 5 times a day. The times of each prayer vary from place to place and from day to day. It is vital that Muslims perform these prayers at the correct time.
The 5 prayers are described below:
Fajr:
Starts at dawn or morning twilight
Ends just before sunrise
Zohar:
Starts at approximately 5 minutes after Zawaal
Ends at start of Asar time
Asar:
The start of Asar is dependant upon the length of the shadow that is cast by an object.
Different schools use different criteria.
Ends just before sunset
Maghrib:
Starts at sunset
Ends at the start of Isha (i.e. when there is reddishness in the sky)
Isha:
Starts after dusk
Ends when the evening twilight disappears (i.e. when it first starts to get light)
These are the 2 schools of thoughts for determining the start of Asar prayer times.
These 2 schools of thoughts use different criteria to determine the start of Asar prayer. They do not affect the timings of the other prayers.
Shafi: The start of Asar is when the shadow of any vertical object exceeds the length of an object.
Hanafi: The start of Asar is when the shadow of any vertical object exceeds twice the length of an object.
Usually Hanafi Asar time is approximately 1 hour later than Shafi Asar prayer time.
