How setting times works

A short guide for the masjid committee. It takes a few minutes, and a helper can do it for you on their phone.

How to use this

1. The usual times

Each prayer has an Azan time and a Jamat time. Type them as they are on your masjid’s board.

The jamat can also be “minutes after Azan”: type the Azan time and, for example, 15. The jamat is then always 15 minutes after the azan.

2. Winter, summer and one-day changes

Under “Seasonal and one-day changes”, add a change with a From and a To date, for example winter timings. On those dates it replaces the usual time.

For one day only, give the same From and To date. When two changes cover the same day, the one with the shorter date range is used that day.

So on 15 Dec the jamat is 6:00 AM, on the other winter days 5:45 AM, and from 1 March 5:30 AM again.

3. Jumu’ah

On Fridays Jumu’ah takes the place of Dhuhr. Give its first azan and its jamat time. A second or third Jumu’ah jamat goes in the rows Jumu’ah 2 and Jumu’ah 3.

4. Eid and Taraweeh

Eid and Taraweeh have no azan: give only the jamat time and the dates. Eid: 1 to 3 days (a second Eid jamat is Jamat no. 2). Taraweeh: the nights of Ramadan, at most 31 days.

5. Times that change by themselves

Under each Azan and Jamat time you choose how it is set: Fixed time (the same every day), Step change or Follow the sun. The last two change the time for you, so you don’t have to edit it every week.

Step change

The time moves by itself from a start date: a few minutes earlier or later every few days, never past a limit you choose. In India and the Gulf, Fajr time begins a little later each day from mid-June to the end of January, and earlier from February to mid-June: move Fajr the same way, and stop it where Fajr time turns (a limit, or an end date). You choose the start date and the time on that day, the minutes each time, earlier or later, every how many days, and the limit.

Follow the sun

The time is worked out from the sun at your masjid’s place on the map: some minutes after (or before) Fajr time, sunrise, midday, Asr time, sunset or Isha time. You choose how often it changes: every day, every 3 or 7 days, or every Friday. Between changes it stays the same, worked out from the latest time it follows in those days, so it is never too early on any of them. It can be rounded up to the next 5 minutes, so the times are easy to remember.

Maghrib is often “azan at sunset, jamat 5 minutes later, every day”: the times then move with the sunset, to the minute.

A jamat can still be “minutes after Azan” when the azan changes by itself: it moves with the azan.

The azan always comes first, on every day. So when one of the two changes by itself, the other must change with it. Simplest: make the jamat “minutes after Azan”. Or let both follow the same time, with the same changes and rounding, and give the jamat more minutes. A time that follows the sun next to a fixed time can’t be saved: on some days the jamat could come before the azan. Nor can step changes that would cross.

Common choices: one tap fills a prayer’s row with a usual setting, for example “Isha: azan when Isha time begins, jamat 15 min later, changes every Friday”. The Fajr step adds a change that lasts until Fajr time turns. You can still change anything before saving.

A seasonal or one-day change can change by itself too: choose Step change or Follow the sun in its row.

6. Check before you save

Under a time that changes by itself you see what it gives at your masjid from today, for example: “Fajr time begins at 4:50 AM today at your masjid. So the jamat is 5:10 AM today, then 5:11 AM from 6 Oct.” A time kept for a few days names the latest time it follows in those days.

Open Next 30 days under a prayer: each day’s azan and jamat, and which of your times gives them (the usual times, or a change’s name). Highlighted rows: a time changes that day.

Gold Please check: times filled in for you, from a board photo or the calculation. Compare them with your board, then press “I’ve checked these”.

Gold notes, and Save anyway? when you save: something looks unusual, for example Maghrib before sunset on some days. If you are sure, you can still save.

Red messages: something can’t be saved yet, for example a jamat before its azan, or a step change that never stops. Each one says what to change.

7. After you save

Find a Masjid shows the new times within about 2 minutes.

People who follow your masjid get a short notice when you change the times, and the evening before a seasonal change starts. Times that change by themselves are not announced each time: the masjid’s page shows a note such as “Fajr azan moves 1 min earlier every 2 days.”

Once a week you are asked “Are this week’s times still right?”. Tap Yes, still correct, or update them.

8. Tips

• A helper (a son, a daughter, a young volunteer) can do all of this on their phone: invite them as a manager.
• Fill times from a photo: take a photo of your board, and the times are filled in for you to check.
• Start from calculated times: the times for your masjid’s place, to change to your own.

9. Ramadan times

In Ramadan, Find a Masjid shows each masjid’s Sehri ends and Iftar. Open your masjid’s Ramadan times tab and choose one:

• Use the city’s Ramadan times: calculated for your city, or from the city’s Ramadan calendar. Nothing more to do.
• The city’s times, adjusted: for example Sehri ends 5 minutes earlier and Iftar 2 minutes later than the city’s, every day.
• Our own timetable: your masjid’s times for each day. Start from the city’s times and change the days that differ, paste rows from a spreadsheet, or fill them from a photo of your Ramadan timetable, then check each one.

The whole month shows every day: your times, the city’s, when Fajr time begins (Subh Sadiq) and sunset. Days that differ from the city’s are highlighted. When something looks unusual, for example Iftar before sunset, you are asked Save anyway?

The choice is for one Ramadan. Next year starts from the city’s times again; an adjustment can be copied with “Use last year’s adjustment”.

Find a Masjid then shows your times “as announced by the masjid”, and people who chose your masjid for Sehri and Iftar reminders get them at your times.

10. Posting a Janazah announcement

Open your masjid, then Events, then Post a Janazah announcement.

When: “After a jamat” today or tomorrow uses your masjid’s own jamat time that day, for example “Today, after Asr (jamat 5:10 PM)”. Or choose a date and a time, up to 48 hours ahead.

Where: your masjid, or another place such as an Eidgah. You can also write the burial place (the qabristan).

Name: write the name only if the family agrees, and tick “The family agrees to this announcement”. Without the tick, no name is shown. Never write a phone number.

It shows on Find a Masjid at once, until 2 hours after the Janazah. People who follow your masjid are told on their phones in their own language (at night, from 5 AM), and so are people in your city who asked. It is deleted after 7 days. If something is wrong, open it and change it, or withdraw it. At most 3 a day.