Knowledge – prayer times between astronomy and fiqh

Factual, source-based articles at the intersection of Islamic law and astronomy.

• The polar problem — where local sighting reaches its limitAbove the Arctic Circle the sun does not set for weeks in summer. Without a sunset there is no evening sky — and without an…
• Thuluth al-layl — the third-of-the-night method and its justificationIn summer the sun in Central Europe reaches neither −18° (Fajr) nor −17° (ʿIshāʾ) for weeks: evening twilight merges into…
• Where do 18° and 17° come from? — Twelve centuries of the angle debateEvery prayer calendar rests on two numbers: the twilight angles for Fajr and ʿIshāʾ. But where do they come from? Acaroğlu’s…
• Are the prayers even obligatory then? — The schools’ disputeIf evening redness never disappears, the time of ʿIshāʾ simply does not exist. What follows legally? The schools of law have…
• Why tamkīn? — A thousand years of precision correctionsThe standard formula of prayer-time calculation computes an idealised world: a point-like earth, a point-like sun, no…
• Which calendar gets it right? Germany’s prayer-time calendars comparedWhoever looks up prayer times in Germany gets different answers depending on the mosque association — usually minutes apart, in…