Salah times

There are varying opinions regarding the exact salah times, the schools of Islamic thought differing in minor details.

Most Muslims pray five times a day, with their prayers being known as Fajr (before dawn), Dhuhr (noon), Asr (late afternoon), Maghrib (at sunset), and Isha (nighttime), always facing towards the Kaaba.

For example, the Maghrib prayer can be performed at any time after sunset and before the disappearance of the red twilight from the west.

[6] In the past, some mosques employed astronomers called the muwaqqits who were responsible for regulating the prayer time using mathematical astronomy.

[5] The five intervals were defined by Muslim authorities in the decades after the death of Muhammad in 632, based on the hadith (the reported sayings and actions) of the Islamic prophet.

The daily prayers are considered obligatory (fard) by many and they are performed at times determined essentially by the position of the Sun in the sky.

[7][8][9] The prescribed times of the prayers depicted in place of the position of the sun in the sky, relative to the worshipper.

The Maghrib prayer begins, when the sun sets, and lasts until the red light has left the sky in the west.

This difference being the result of the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit and the inclination of its axis, it is called the equation of time.

[12] In addition to the above measures, to calculate prayer times for a specific location we need its spherical coordinates.

Technological advances have allowed for products such as software-enhanced azan clocks that use a combination of GPS and microchips to calculate these formulas.

This allows Muslims to live further away from mosques than previously possible, as they no longer need to rely solely on a muezzin in order to keep an accurate prayer schedule.