Guides
Two things people search for and rarely find a straight answer to: why prayer-time apps disagree with each other, and what you are actually allowed to ask for at work. These are written to answer the question, not to sell you anything.
How prayer times work
Why two apps disagree, what the angles and shadow rules actually mean, and how the harder cases — high latitudes, Islamic midnight, the qibla — are derived.
Why does my prayer app show a different Asr time?
Asr begins when an object's shadow reaches a set multiple of its own length beyond the shadow it cast at noon. The Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali schools use one shadow length; the Hanafi school uses two. That single difference moves Asr later by roughly 45 to 90 minutes depending on latitude and season, and both times are correct within their school.
Read the guideWhich prayer time calculation method should I use?
Calculation methods differ almost entirely in two numbers: how far below the horizon the sun sits at Fajr and at Isha. Common conventions range from 12° to 19.5°, which can move Fajr by more than half an hour at the same location. Use whichever method your local masjid follows, because that is the congregation you will pray with.
Read the guideHow are prayer times calculated when the sun does not set properly?
Above roughly 48° latitude the sun does not descend far enough below the horizon in summer for Fajr and Isha to occur astronomically, so the standard calculation returns nothing. Three conventions fill the gap: dividing the night into halves or sevenths, or holding the angle from the last date it worked. They produce materially different times.
Read the guideWhat is Islamic midnight and when does the last third of the night start?
Islamic midnight is the midpoint between Maghrib and the following Fajr, not 12:00 on the clock. The last third of the night, the preferred window for tahajjud, begins two-thirds of the way through that same span. Both drift by an hour or more across the year because they are anchored to sunset and dawn, which move.
Read the guideHow do I find the qibla direction from where I am?
The qibla is the great-circle bearing from your location to the Kaaba in Makkah — the shortest path across a sphere, not a straight line on a flat map. This is why the qibla from North America points north-east rather than south-east. A magnetic compass adds a further error, since magnetic north can differ from true north by 20° or more.
Read the guideWhat is the difference between a prayer app and a prayer calendar?
A prayer app tells you when a prayer has started. A prayer calendar reserves the time on the schedule other people book against. They address different failure modes: forgetting, versus being double-booked. Someone whose day is controlled by a shared work calendar usually needs the second, and often runs both.
Read the guide
Prayer and work
The practical and legal side of praying during the working day: what you can ask for, how to ask, and what the law says in the US and UK.
Am I allowed to take prayer breaks at work?
In most workplaces you can take short prayer breaks, and in the US and UK employers generally must accommodate them unless doing so causes substantial difficulty or expense. A single prayer takes five to ten minutes. The practical obstacle is rarely the law — it is that meetings get booked over the window before anyone asks.
Read the guideHow do I write a religious accommodation request for prayer?
A religious accommodation request for prayer should state the practice, the specific times involved, the accommodation you want, and your flexibility. Keep it to one page. You do not need to justify the belief or prove sincerity in writing — you are opening a conversation your employer is generally obliged to engage with in good faith.
Read the guideDoes my US employer have to let me pray at work?
Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, US employers with 15 or more employees must reasonably accommodate religious practice unless it would impose an undue hardship. Since Groff v. DeJoy (2023), undue hardship means a substantial increased cost to the business — a materially higher bar than the minimal-cost standard courts applied before.
Read the guideCan my UK employer refuse to let me pray at work?
Religion or belief is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. A UK employer is not required to grant every request, but a blanket refusal of short prayer breaks can amount to indirect discrimination unless the employer shows it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. Most disputes turn on whether alternatives were considered.
Read the guideHow do I go to Jumu'ah when it is in the middle of a work day?
Jumu'ah falls inside the Dhuhr window on Friday and, unlike the daily prayers, cannot be shifted to a quieter moment. Most people solve it with a standing 60 to 90 minute block that covers travel, the khutbah and the prayer, treated as a recurring commitment rather than something renegotiated each week.
Read the guide
Getting prayer times onto your calendar
What Sutrah actually does, per platform. The permissions differ, and so does what you get. If you are weighing it against the prayer app already on your phone, the comparisons say what each of those does better, with sources.
Times for your city
No account needed for any of these.