The times of the five daily prayers

Allah said:

Prayer has been decreed upon the believers at specified times.sura an-Nisa 103

And the angel Jibril prayed with the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) at both bounds of each time, then said: "Pray as you have prayed, your time is ahead of you" (Muslim 528). This hadith is the best reference for the bounds of each time.

The five times

• Dhuhr (noon): from the sun's decline past the zenith until an object's shadow equals its height (plus its length for the majority).
• Asr (afternoon): from the end of dhuhr until the sun yellows. "The time of asr is long, so long as the sun has not yellowed" (Muslim 612).
• Maghrib (sunset): from sunset until the red glow disappears; it is the briefest time, to be hastened.
• Isha (night): from the disappearance of the redness until midnight (its end for the majority); delaying to a third of the night is moderate, beyond that disliked without need.
• Fajr (dawn): from the appearance of the true horizontal dawn until sunrise.

Disliked times

Three moments when voluntary prayer is disliked: at sunrise, at the exact zenith, and at sunset (al-Bukhari 553; Muslim 831), so as not to resemble sun-worshippers.

Practical notes

• Cloudy skies: advance the daytime prayers and delay isha, to pray at a certain time (Muslim 524).
• The earliest time is best for all prayers, except dhuhr and isha where a moderate delay is reported. "The dearest prayer to Allah is that of Dawud: he slept half the night, stood a third and slept a sixth" (al-Bukhari 1141).