When does the time for each of the five daily prayers begin and end?

Allah has fixed the prayers at set times: "Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times" (Qur'an 4:103), and "Establish prayer at the decline of the sun until the darkness of the night, and [also] the recitation of dawn" (Qur'an 17:78). The Prophet ﷺ detailed them in the ḥadīth of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr (Muslim 612): Ẓuhr begins when the sun passes its zenith and lasts until an object's shadow equals its own length, when ʿAṣr begins; the chosen time of ʿAṣr lasts "as long as the sun has not turned yellow," and praying in the yellowing period until sunset is only for one with an excuse; Maghrib begins at sunset and lasts until the red twilight disappears; ʿIshāʾ begins then and its chosen time extends to the middle of the night; and Fajr begins at true dawn and lasts until sunrise. There is a well-known ikhtilāf on the start of ʿAṣr: the majority take it as one shadow-length (plus the shadow at zenith), while the standard Ḥanafī position is two. Both are recognised positions of the fuqahāʾ; follow the timetable of your madhhab or your local mosque, and do not dispute over it.

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