Prayers, according to God's command for the Nation of Muhammad - peace be upon him and upon all of God's Prophets - are at five daily times.
The timings of prayers are based upon the time of day as determined by the times of dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset and night.
Since in Islam, as in Judaism, the day begins at sunset, the first prayer of the day is actually 'Maghrib' - right after the sun has set. However, most people think of them as:
Fajr: to be prayed at some time between the coming of the first light of dawn, until the sun just begins to rise above the horizon.
Thuhur (pronounced with the 'th' sound as in the Word 'then'): to be prayed between the time that the sun has just passed its zenith (the highest point) until the length of a shadow of an object is equal to its height. In the Hanafi School, it would be twice its height.
Asr: to be prayed from the end of the time mentioned above, to before sunset.
Maghrib: to be prayed after sunset, until the last light is gone from the sky.
Ishaa: after the last light has gone. It should not be delayed longer than the midpoint between sunset and dawn. In other Words, the middle of the night.
Each of these prayers, according to the majority opinion, are best done as soon as possible after the time for each begins. Of course, it is best to pray them in congregation, if possible. The two prayers with the shortest times are the Fajr (dawn) and Maghrib (sunset) prayers. The one prayer that the Prophet used to delay, is the Ishaa (night) prayer.
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