When does Fajr start and end?

Fajr begins at true dawn, when light first spreads along the horizon, and ends at sunrise. It is the first of the five daily prayers, and in Ramadan its start is also when the fast begins.

Sunrise is a fixed moment, but dawn brightens slowly, so timetables can differ by several minutes on when Fajr begins.

What time does Fajr start and end today?

Pick a city, or use your location, to see today's Fajr times where you are:

See prayer times today for the other prayers and a full month. For accurate prayer times wherever you are, Pillars chooses the right calculation method for your location and updates it as you travel.

What is true dawn?

True dawn (subh sadiq) is a band of light along the horizon that keeps spreading and brightening. It follows false dawn (subh kadhib), a faint upright glow that rises and then fades back into darkness. Fajr begins at true dawn, not false dawn.

In Sahih Muslim 1094, the Prophet ﷺ said that neither Bilal's call "nor this whiteness" should mislead people "until it spreads". Ibn Qudamah reports that scholars agree the rulings of Fajr attach to true dawn.

How is the start of Fajr calculated?

A timetable needs an exact moment for dawn, so it defines true dawn by how far the sun is below the horizon. HM Nautical Almanac Office says there is "no general agreement on a precise definition of 'dawn'", so each calculation method sets its own angle:

Angles from praytimes.org; Moonsighting Committee from moonsighting.com.

A larger angle means the sun is further below the horizon, so Fajr comes earlier. Here is today's Fajr under each method:

Methods use the middle-of-the-night rule in summer.

To see how the methods compare across all five prayers, read how prayer times are calculated.

When does Fajr end?

Fajr ends at sunrise, when the top edge of the sun appears. Sahih Muslim 612 gives its time "from the appearance of dawn, as long as the sun has not risen". In Sahih al-Bukhari 579, whoever catches one rak'ah before sunrise "has got the (morning) prayer".

Sunrise barely varies between sources: HMNAO expects differences of "a minute or so". Some mosques add a margin, and East London Mosque lists sunrise 3 minutes before HMNAO's figure.

How long does Fajr last?

In London, Fajr lasts about an hour and a half in spring and autumn, a little longer in winter, and two hours at midsummer. These figures use the Moonsighting Committee method, the basis of the London Unified Prayer Timetable:

With the Muslim World League's 18° angle, the window is about 20 minutes longer outside summer.

Why is Fajr so early in a UK summer?

In June and July, the sky never gets fully dark in much of Britain. HMNAO notes that the sun "does not reach 18°" below the horizon in many parts of the British Isles, so an 18° method has no moment to calculate dawn from.

Timetables fill the gap with a high-latitude rule, which places Fajr using a share of the night instead of the sun's angle. The rule makes a large difference: on 21 June 2027 in London, the Muslim World League method puts Fajr anywhere from 01:02 to 03:40, depending on the rule. The three rules are explained in how prayer times are calculated.

UK scholars and mosques handle this in different ways. Wifaqul Ulama uses either the last day the sun reached 18° or half the night, "not both", while the London Unified Prayer Timetable follows the Moonsighting Committee's observation-based model.

Does the fast begin at Fajr?

Yes. The fast runs from Fajr to Maghrib, so suhoor ends when Fajr begins. So in Ramadan, your timetable's method decides when you stop eating: in London on the first day of Ramadan (8 February 2027), the Muslim World League puts Fajr about 20 minutes before ISNA. See Ramadan 2027 dates for when it begins and ends.

When is the best time to pray Fajr?

Fajr is valid at any point before sunrise. In Jami' at-Tirmidhi 149, Jibril led the Prophet ﷺ in Fajr once at first light and once when "the land glowed", and said the time is "between these two times". Scholars differ only on which part of the window is better:

• Early, in the darkness after true dawn
  Known as taghlis, this is the view of the majority: the Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali schools. They cite Sahih al-Bukhari 578: after Fajr, women went home and "nobody could recognize them because of darkness".
• Later, once the sky has brightened
  Known as isfar, this is the Hanafi view, provided enough time is left before sunrise. Hanafis cite Jami' at-Tirmidhi 154: "Perform Fajr at Al-Isfar, for indeed its reward is greater".

Both views rest on sound evidence. Jordan's General Iftaa' Department states that following either is permissible.

How do I make sure my Fajr time is right?

Start with your mosque, then match your app to it.

1. Check your local mosque's timetable
   If your mosque publishes one, use it as your reference.
2. Match the method
   Compare a week of Fajr times with your mosque's until they line up.
3. Match the high-latitude rule
   In the UK this decides Fajr in the summer months.
4. Adjust if needed
   Add or take away a few minutes to cover the mosque's margin.

In Pillars, all of this is in Settings, under Prayer Times:

• Autopilot
  On by default. It picks a valid calculation method for the country you are in, and changes it as you travel (in supported countries).
• Calculation method
  Turn Auto-Detect off to choose your own from 23 methods, each listed with its Fajr and Isha angles.
• High-latitude rule
  Twilight angle, middle of the night or one-seventh of the night.
• Custom angles
  Set your own angle for Fajr.
• Custom adjustments
  Move Fajr or sunrise a few minutes earlier or later to match your mosque.

To wake for Fajr, Pillars can play the full Fajr adhan as a real alarm on iPhones running iOS 26 or later.

Keep reading

• When does Isha end?
• What time is Tahajjud?
• How are Islamic prayer times calculated?
• Pillars prayer times app