Dhuhr time: what it is and how it is calculated
The short answer
Dhuhr begins when the sun passes its highest point in the sky. Unlike Fajr and Isha it needs no angle, so every method starts from the same moment. What differs is a margin of a few minutes that some method profiles add, your exact longitude, and rounding.
What is Dhuhr time?
Sahaar defines Dhuhr as the moment the sun passes its highest point in the sky. That moment, solar noon, is rarely 12:00 on the clock. It depends on where you are within your time zone, on daylight saving time and on the date. Dhuhr’s window runs until Asr. Between sunrise and Dhuhr there is no prayer window in Sahaar.
How is Dhuhr calculated?
Two things set solar noon: longitude and the date. The Earth turns one degree of longitude every four minutes, so a city one degree west of another sees noon four minutes later. Across the year, solar noon also drifts earlier and later by up to about a quarter of an hour, because the Earth’s orbit is not a perfect circle and its axis is tilted.
Most method profiles then add a small margin after the highest point:
| Method | Added |
|---|---|
| Muslim World League (MWL) | +1 min |
| ISNA (North America) | +1 min |
| ISNA, Canada | +1 min |
| Egypt (GAS) | +1 min |
| Karachi (Pakistan/India) | +1 min |
| Singapore (MUIS) | +1 min |
| Indonesia (Kemenag) | +2 min |
| Dubai | +3 min |
| Moonsighting Committee | +5 min |
| Umm al-Qura (Saudi Arabia) | none |
| Kuwait | none |
| Qatar | none |
| Tehran | none |
The Türkiye method adds a few minutes of temkin to match Diyanet’s calendar. With the method Sahaar suggests for Morocco and for Oman, five minutes are added to Dhuhr, matching the timetables published there. These country minutes apply only with that suggested method.
Why does Dhuhr differ between apps?
- The margin. Zero, one, three or five minutes, depending on the method profile.
- Location. Four minutes for every degree of longitude.
- Rounding. Some timetables round every time up to the next minute.
- The clock. If every prayer is off by the same amount, check that the device clock is set automatically.
More in Why prayer times differ between apps.
Dhuhr times in your city
City pages show this month’s Dhuhr for each city: London, New York City, Toronto, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Johannesburg. Every country Sahaar covers is listed on Prayer times by country.
More on prayer times
- Fajr time explained
- Asr time explained
- Maghrib time explained
- Isha time explained
- How many rak‘ahs is each prayer?
- Why prayer times differ between apps
In Sahaar, Settings › Info › How prayer times are set shows each time’s definition, the angle used today for your location and where the sun actually is at that moment. Get Sahaar on the App Store