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Tahajjud time calculator

See when the night prayer can be offered, from Isha through to Fajr, with the midpoint and the last third marked out for your location and date.

Place and the night beginning on

Positive north, negative south

Positive east, negative west

Hours ahead of UTC at that place on that date, daylight saving included

Calculation method

Widely used across Europe and much of the world. A reasonable default if you are unsure.

Show nothing rather than estimate. Ask your local mosque what they follow.

Methods disagree with one another by up to twenty minutes at Fajr and Isha, because they disagree about which angle of twilight marks the boundary. Follow whichever your local mosque follows rather than whichever gives the answer you prefer.

Clock

Tahajjud window

Enter a location and date, or tap Use my location, to see when the night prayer can be offered.

What this marks out

The window in which the night prayer can be offered: from Isha until Fajr. Inside it, two points are shown because they are the ones people ask about, the midpoint of the night, and the start of its final third.

Those divisions are of the whole night, measured from Maghrib rather than from Isha. That is the conventional way the night is divided, and it puts the boundaries earlier than dividing the window would.

Why the window is shorter than the night

The night runs from Maghrib; the window does not open until Isha, an hour or two later depending on the season and the calculation method. Both figures are shown so the difference is visible rather than implied.

Which night a date refers to

A night belongs to the evening it starts in. Choosing a date gives you the night that begins that evening and ends at the following morning’s Fajr, so the calculation looks at two days and takes the later Fajr, rather than the same day’s, which would describe the previous night.

What this tool does not do

It does not tell you when you should pray, or rank one part of the night above another. Those are questions with a scholarly literature behind them, and a calculator has nothing useful to add to it. What it can do is tell you accurately where the night falls tonight, where it divides, and when it ends.

Questions

When does the tahajjud window open and close?
It opens after Isha and closes at Fajr. That is the span this tool marks out. Within it, the midpoint and the final third of the night are the divisions people most often ask about, so both are shown.
Does the window start at Isha or after sleeping?
The times here are the astronomical window, Isha to Fajr. Whether the prayer requires sleeping first is a question scholars discuss, and it is not one a calculator can settle. This tool shows you where the night falls; the rest is not its to decide.
Why is the window shorter than the night?
Because the night begins at Maghrib but the window does not open until Isha, which is typically an hour or two later. Both are shown so you can see the difference. The thirds are divisions of the whole night, from Maghrib, not of the window.
Why is the last third measured from Maghrib and not from Isha?
Because the night is conventionally taken as Maghrib to Fajr, and the thirds divide that. Measuring from Isha instead would move the boundary later by a third of the gap between Maghrib and Isha, around forty minutes at a British latitude in winter.
Which date should I choose for tonight?
Today's. A night belongs to the evening it begins in, so choosing today gives you tonight's window, ending at tomorrow morning's Fajr. The tool computes both days so the closing time is the right one.
What if no window is shown?
Above roughly 48 degrees of latitude there are summer dates when Isha or Fajr does not occur at all, and a window needs both ends. Rather than estimate, the tool says so. Selecting the convention your mosque follows for those nights will produce times based on that convention.

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