Tahajjud time calculator

How the last third of the night is worked out

The Islamic night runs from maghrib (sunset) to fajr (true dawn), not from midnight on the clock. Take that length, divide it into three, and the last third begins two thirds of the way through.

Say maghrib is at 6:30 pm and fajr is at 6:00 am. The night is 11 hours 30 minutes long, so each third is 3 hours 50 minutes. The last third starts at 2:10 am and runs until fajr. Islamic midnight, the halfway point, falls at 12:15 am.

Because both maghrib and fajr move every day, so does the last third. In a Canadian or British winter it can start before 2 am; in summer it can be well after 3 am and only an hour or two long.

Why the last third

The Prophet ﷺ said: “Our Lord, the Blessed and Exalted, descends every night to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains, and says: Who is calling upon Me, that I may answer him? Who is asking of Me, that I may give him? Who is seeking My forgiveness, that I may forgive him?” (Sahih al-Bukhari 1145, Sahih Muslim 758).

He also said that the best prayer after the obligatory prayers is prayer at night (Sahih Muslim 1163). You can pray at night any time after isha, but the last third is the time singled out.

Islamic midnight and the end of isha

The calculator also shows Islamic midnight, the halfway point between maghrib and fajr. It matters because the Prophet ﷺ said the time of isha lasts until the middle of the night (Sahih Muslim 612). Many scholars hold that isha should not be delayed past it without a reason, so it is worth knowing when it is.

Which fajr method to pick

Fajr is defined by how far the sun sits below the horizon, and different authorities use different angles. Most North American mosques use 15° (ISNA). Much of Europe uses 18° (Muslim World League). Umm al-Qura and the Egyptian authority use 18.5° and 19.5°. A larger angle gives an earlier fajr, and so an earlier last third.

The best choice is whatever your local mosque uses, so your times match the timetable on its wall. In northern cities in summer the sun may never sink far enough for an 18° fajr at all; the calculator tells you when that happens, and mosques there use a high-latitude rule instead.

How ruhly handles prayer times →

How many rak’ahs, and how to end

There is no fixed number. The minimum is two rak’ahs, prayed two at a time. Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said the Prophet ﷺ did not pray more than eleven rak’ahs at night, in Ramadan or outside it (Sahih al-Bukhari 1147). The night prayer is closed with witr, an odd number of rak’ahs.

If you are not sure you will wake, it is sound to pray witr before you sleep. If you do wake, you can pray in twos without repeating witr.

Practical ways to wake up at night →

Put these times on your mosque’s website

Mosques, MSAs and Islamic schools can add a free tahajjud widget for their city to their own site. It shows the same times as this calculator and takes one copy-and-paste to set up.

Get the tahajjud widget →

Tahajjud and Ramadan times by city

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