Prayer Times
Prayer Times in Algeria — All Cities
Algerian prayer times on this site are calculated to the convention maintained by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments, the national standard rather than an international default. Algeria stretches more than nine degrees of longitude across its northern belt while keeping a single unchanging clock, which is where most of the difference between its cities comes from.
Nine degrees of longitude on a single clock
Algeria is the largest country in Africa, and the eight cities we cover are strung across its northern belt from the Moroccan border to the Tunisian one. Tlemcen in the far west sits at 1.3 degrees west of Greenwich, while Annaba in the far east sits at 7.8 degrees east. That is a separation of just over nine degrees, roughly nine hundred kilometres, and the whole of it runs on one timezone.
The consequence is arithmetic rather than opinion. The earth turns through a degree of longitude every four minutes, so the sun reaches Annaba around thirty-six minutes before it reaches Tlemcen, and every solar event in the day is separated by about that much between the two ends of the country. Oran, at 0.6 west, behaves much like Tlemcen; Constantine at 6.6 east much like Annaba. A timetable made for Algiers, near the middle at 3.1 east, will be a quarter of an hour or more out at either extreme.
A fixed offset, and what that means in Ramadan
Algeria observes UTC+1 all year and does not use daylight saving. There is no changeover weekend, no separate summer timetable, and no seasonal adjustment of any kind to catch out a printed calendar. Of all the countries covered on this site, the Algerian clock is among the most stable.
For Ramadan that has a particular consequence. Where the clock never moves, the fasting timetable is governed purely by the sun and by the calendar. Because the lunar year is around eleven days shorter than the Gregorian one, Ramadan advances steadily through the seasons: a run of years in which the fast falls in high summer, with a long gap between Fajr and Maghrib, gives way over time to winter Ramadans that are several hours shorter. The monthly calendar on each city page shows the full span of the current month at once, which is the most direct way to see how the day is shaped.
The coast and the high plateau
Six of the eight cities sit on or close to the Mediterranean. Algiers, Oran and Annaba are ports, and Blida lies just inland at the foot of the mountains behind the capital. Setif and Batna are different in character: both stand on the high plateaus of the interior at around a thousand metres above sea level.
Altitude has a real but modest effect. From higher ground the visible horizon drops slightly, so the sun appears a little earlier at dawn and a little later at dusk than a sea-level calculation suggests. The difference is a couple of minutes rather than anything dramatic, and the standard convention, which we follow, computes against a sea-level horizon. Terrain can work the other way: a city with high ground to the west may lose the sun behind a ridge before the calculated Maghrib. Where the two disagree, take the time announced by the local mosque.
Latitude, by contrast, does very little work here. All eight cities fall between 34.9 and 36.9 degrees north, a band of only two degrees, so the seasonal swing in day length is much the same across the country. What separates Algerian cities is a matter of east and west, not of north and south.
The convention of the Ministry of Religious Affairs
Prayer times in Algeria follow the convention maintained by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments. Like most conventions outside the Arabian Peninsula it is angle-based: Fajr and Isha are defined by how far the sun sits below the horizon rather than by a fixed count of minutes from sunrise or sunset. Both times therefore move gradually through the year as twilight lengthens and shortens with the season.
Algeria maintains its own national standard rather than adopting the Muslim World League default or the Egyptian convention used by several countries in the region. This site applies the Algerian standard to all eight cities, so the figures should correspond to what is announced in Algerian mosques rather than to a generic international calculation. If your app is configured to a different method, that is the usual explanation for a discrepancy of a few minutes at Fajr and Isha.
A Maliki country and the Asr time
Algeria is Maliki, and the Maliki reckoning of Asr is the same as the Shafi'i and Hanbali one: the prayer begins when an object's shadow equals its own length plus the shadow it cast at solar noon. That reckoning is used for every Algerian city here and is what Algerian mosques follow, so there is no second Asr time in circulation of the sort found in countries with large Hanafi populations.
The Hanafi position, which waits until the shadow is twice the object's length, produces an Asr roughly forty to sixty minutes later. It is worth knowing about if you are comparing our times with those used in Turkey or South Asia, but it is not the practice you will encounter in Algeria.
Choosing your city
We publish times for Algiers, Oran, Constantine, Annaba, Blida, Setif, Batna and Tlemcen, each stored with its own coordinates. Given the east to west spread described above, that distinction matters more here than in most countries: using Algiers as a stand-in for Tlemcen or Annaba will leave you a noticeable number of minutes out at both ends of the day.
Each city page gives today's five prayer times and sunrise, a live countdown to the next prayer, and a calendar for the whole of the current month. The method used is named on the page, so you can confirm it matches the one your mosque follows.
Frequently asked questions
Which calculation method does Algeria use?
The convention maintained by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments. It is angle-based, defining Fajr and Isha by the depression of the sun below the horizon rather than by a fixed number of minutes after sunset, so both times shift gradually through the year. Algeria keeps its own national standard rather than adopting the Muslim World League default or the Egyptian convention, and that Algerian standard is applied to all eight cities on this site.
Why is there such a gap between prayer times in Oran and Annaba?
Longitude. Oran lies at 0.6 degrees west and Annaba at 7.8 degrees east, and the whole country runs on one timezone. Since the earth turns through a degree every four minutes, the sun reaches Annaba well before it reaches Oran, and the difference between the two ends of Algeria comes to over half an hour. This is why we calculate each city from its own coordinates instead of publishing one national table.
Does Algeria put its clocks forward in summer?
No. Algeria stays on UTC+1 throughout the year and does not observe daylight saving. There is no changeover weekend and no separate summer timetable, so an Algerian prayer calendar moves only as the sun moves. This makes the Algerian clock one of the more stable of any country on this site, and it means a printed timetable will not suddenly be an hour out halfway through the year.
Do Setif and Batna need different times because they sit at altitude?
The effect exists but it is small. Both cities stand at around a thousand metres, which lowers the visible horizon slightly and makes sunrise marginally earlier and sunset marginally later than at sea level, typically by a couple of minutes. The standard convention computes against a sea-level horizon and that is what we publish. Local terrain can push the other way, with high ground to the west hiding the sun before the calculated Maghrib.
Which school of law do the Asr times here follow?
The Maliki reckoning, which is the practice in Algeria and which agrees with the Shafi'i and Hanbali position: Asr begins when an object's shadow equals its own length plus the shadow it cast at noon. The Hanafi reckoning waits for the shadow to reach twice the object's length and falls roughly forty to sixty minutes later, but it is not what Algerian mosques follow, so you will not find two competing Asr times in an Algerian city.