How are prayer times calculated abroad? A high-latitude guide
Abroad, prayer times are worked out from the sun’s angle, just as in Türkiye. The first thing to check is whether your city is on the foreign-city list of Diyanet, Türkiye’s Presidency of Religious Affairs. If it isn’t, look at the calendar and method your local mosque uses. At high latitudes — Germany, the Netherlands, the UK — Isha and Fajr may not occur in summer. A separate rule then estimates them.
Here we cover which calendar to look at abroad, what changes at high latitudes and what Diyanet has ruled. We learnt most of it while building Mümin 360. We give no ruling on which method is religiously correct; for fiqh we point to Diyanet’s High Council of Religious Affairs.
What are prayer times abroad based on?
Abroad, too, prayer times come from the sun’s position relative to the horizon. Fajr and Isha depend on how many degrees the sun is below it. The Diyanet calendar uses 18° for Fajr and 17° for Isha.
What varies is which body uses which angle, and which extra rule. Türkiye has one official calendar. Abroad, mosques, associations and apps may each follow a different method. We set out the differences in angles and safety minutes, using İstanbul as an example, in why prayer times differ between apps.
Several common methods carry a region in their name. A few from the PrayTimes.org comparison:
| Method | Fajr angle | Isha angle |
|---|---|---|
| Diyanet (Türkiye) | 18° | 17° |
| Muslim World League (MWL) | 18° | 17° |
| ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) | 15° | 15° |
| Muslims of France | 12° | 12° |
| Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia | 16° | 15° |
| Umm al-Qura (Makkah) | 18.5° | 90 min after Maghrib, 120 min in Ramadan |
A country in a method’s name does not mean everyone in that country uses it. So rather than choosing by country, we suggest starting from the calendar used where you live.
Does Diyanet publish calendars for cities abroad?
Yes. The region list on Diyanet’s prayer times page includes Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US amongst many others. You choose the country, then the city.
According to the High Council’s calendar work page, the list held 780 foreign cities in 2025. It was 714 in 2024 and 597 from 2020 to 2023. The same page notes that coordinates for missing cities are worked out and added to the database.
Which calendar should you look at, depending on where you are?
We gathered the cases in one table. It is not a ruling — it shows where to look.
| Where you are | Look first at | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Türkiye | The Diyanet calendar, by district | The Asr setting and safety minutes |
| Abroad, your city is on Diyanet’s list | Diyanet’s calendar for that city | Your mosque may follow a different calendar |
| Abroad, your city is not on the list | Your mosque’s calendar and the method it uses | Choosing the same method and high-latitude rule in your app |
| North of 45° (Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, UK) | Whichever of the two rows above fits | In summer an estimation rule takes over for Isha and Fajr |
| North of 62° | Your local mosque’s calendar or Diyanet’s | Diyanet uses the times of the 62nd latitude here |
| North America | Your mosque’s calendar | ISNA’s 15° angle puts Fajr later than Diyanet’s |
In practice, that gives this order:
- Ask your mosque or local association which calendar it follows.
- Look for your city on Diyanet’s prayer times list.
- Choose the matching method in your app.
- In summer, put Isha and Fajr next to the mosque’s calendar. If they differ, check the high-latitude rule.
- When travelling, turn on location access or pick the new city by hand.
Why does Isha not occur in summer at high latitudes?
In summer at northern latitudes, the sun does not sink far enough below the horizon, even at midnight. Dawn begins before dusk has faded. The PrayTimes.org page describes this as twilight persisting throughout the night in some months.
The usual formula then breaks down. If the sun never reaches 17° below the horizon, there is no 17° Isha time. The same goes for Fajr.
To make this concrete, we worked out 21 June 2026 ourselves, using NOAA’s approximate solar formulas. The results may be a few minutes out, and they are no substitute for an official calendar.
| City | Latitude | Sunset | Sunrise | Sun’s lowest point | Does 18° occur? | Does 17° occur? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Munich | 48.1° | 21:17 | 05:13 | 18.4° below | Yes, briefly | Yes |
| London | 51.5° | 21:21 | 04:43 | 15.0° below | No | No |
| Amsterdam | 52.4° | 22:06 | 05:18 | 14.2° below | No | No |
| Berlin | 52.5° | 21:33 | 04:43 | 14.0° below | No | No |
Times are local summer time. By the same calculation, the sun does not reach 18° in Berlin from roughly 18 May to 26 July. In London that stretch runs from about 23 May to 21 July.
A rough boundary falls out too. At the June solstice, the sun does not reach 18° north of about 48.6°, or 17° north of about 49.6°.
What does Diyanet’s 45th-latitude ruling say?
The High Council of Religious Affairs ruled on prayer times beyond the 45th latitude on 10–11 June 2009. Its reason was that, in some regions, the signs that mark the prayer times form only partly or not at all. Here is a summary of the points on the Prayer times beyond the 45th latitude page:
- Isha: beyond the 45th latitude, Isha is still set at one-third of the şer’î night. That night runs from sunset to true dawn.
- Upper limit: that third may fall later than 1 hour 20 minutes. If so, Isha is estimated to begin no later than 1 hour 20 minutes after Maghrib. This point passed by majority.
- Fajr: between March and September, 10 minutes are added to the estimated Maghrib–Isha interval, and the result is subtracted from sunrise. The move to this method is made gradually.
- 62nd latitude: beyond the 62nd latitude, the times of the 62nd latitude are used.
- Other methods: where competent people and bodies set different times using other estimation methods, this is not considered wrong. Worship based on those times is not deemed mistaken either.
The fifth point matters for anyone living abroad. If your mosque’s calendar differs from Diyanet’s, the Council does not regard that as an error.
What do other calendars do at high latitudes?
Most methods other than Diyanet’s rely on a general high-latitude rule. The PrayTimes.org page describes three common ones:
- Middle of the night: the time from sunset to sunrise is split in two, and Isha and Fajr are set at its midpoint.
- One-seventh of the night: the night is split into seven parts. Isha begins after the first part, Fajr at the start of the last.
- Angle-based: the night is divided in proportion to the angle over 60. With a 15° Isha angle, for instance, Isha begins at the end of the first quarter of the night.
We applied these rules to the same Berlin night. The choice of rule alone can move Isha by more than an hour.
| Rule (Berlin, 21 June 2026) | Isha | Fajr |
|---|---|---|
| One-seventh of the night | 22:34 | 03:41 |
| Angle-based (17° / 18°) | 23:35 | 02:34 |
| Middle of the night | 01:08 | 01:08 |
These rows are our own calculation. For Diyanet’s Berlin times, see Diyanet’s own calendar. If your app’s Isha is hours away from your mosque’s, this setting is the likely cause.
What does changing the method affect?
A change of method shows most in Fajr, Isha and, in Ramadan, the end of the pre-dawn meal. How those times are set is in how Fajr and iftar times are set.
Sunrise, Dhuhr and Maghrib barely move; any gap there usually comes from safety minutes. Watch the Asr setting too: a “Hanafi” option can put Asr over half an hour after Diyanet’s.
How does Mümin 360 show prayer times abroad?
In Türkiye and in the foreign cities on Diyanet’s list, Mümin 360 takes its times from the data Diyanet publishes. For Berlin or London, then, it shows Diyanet’s calendar for that city. If that data can’t be fetched, the phone calculates the times with the Diyanet method. A source badge then appears on screen.
If you are somewhere not on Diyanet’s list, the times follow the method you choose: MWL, ISNA or Umm al-Qura. The calculation uses your chosen method, school of law and high-latitude rule. Without a connection, the times are calculated on the phone.
Location access is only ever requested “While Using the App”. Without it, you can pick your city from the list. Our privacy policy sets out where coordinates go for the calculation, and how precisely. For now the app is iPhone-only; there is no Android version.
The criteria we use to judge a prayer app are in how to choose a prayer times app.
Frequently asked questions
Which prayer time method should I use in Germany?
This is a question of method and scholarly judgement, and we don’t recommend one. A practical starting point is your local mosque’s calendar. Diyanet also publishes calendars for many German cities; look for yours on its prayer times page.
Why is Isha so late in summer, or missing altogether?
At high latitudes the sun may not sink below the Isha angle in summer. The app then estimates Isha with a high-latitude rule. Which rule it uses can shift Isha by more than an hour.
How does Diyanet set Isha beyond the 45th latitude?
Under the High Council’s 2009 ruling, Isha is set at one-third of the şer’î night. If that third falls later than 1 hour 20 minutes, Isha begins no later than 1 hour 20 minutes after Maghrib. Beyond the 62nd latitude, the times of the 62nd latitude are used.
My mosque’s calendar differs from Diyanet’s — which should I follow?
We give no ruling on this. The same Council decision does not regard worship based on times set by competent people and bodies, using other methods, as mistaken. For your own situation, your local imam or the High Council of Religious Affairs is the place to ask.
Does a prayer app update the times when I travel?
An app with location access calculates for where you are. If you chose your city by hand, you will need to pick the new one yourself. Check, too, that the method setting suits the place you’ve travelled to.
Mümin 360 - Namaz Kıble Zikir is free on the App Store: see Mümin 360 on the App Store. Planning an app in a sensitive field that puts its users’ trust first? Our custom software and mobile apps page explains how we work.
