Prayer Times
Prayer Times in Bahrain — All Cities
Bahrain is calculated using the Gulf Region convention, which sets Fajr at a solar depression of 19.5 degrees and fixes Isha at ninety minutes after Maghrib. Because the island measures only about twenty kilometres across the area we cover, the eight places listed here share what is effectively one national timetable. Bahrain keeps UTC+3 all year.
An island where distance stops mattering
Bahrain is the most compact country covered on this site. The eight places listed here, Manama and Muharraq in the north, Riffa and Isa Town in the middle, Hamad Town to the west, Sitra and Juffair on the eastern shore and Budaiya on the north-western coast, all sit within roughly twenty kilometres of one another. The total longitude spread across the list is under two tenths of a degree, which is worth about forty seconds of solar time.
Forty seconds does not survive rounding to the nearest minute. On most days every Bahraini page on this site shows the same figure for every prayer, and where two of them differ it is by a single minute. We calculate each location from its own stored coordinates because that is the honest way to do it, but there is no point pretending Budaiya and Sitra keep meaningfully different timetables. They do not. A timetable printed for Manama is correct for the whole country.
Two different rules inside one method
Bahrain uses the Gulf Region convention, which is unusual in that its two ends work on entirely different principles. Fajr is defined by a twilight angle: dawn begins when the sun reaches 19.5 degrees below the horizon. Isha is defined by the clock: it falls a fixed ninety minutes after Maghrib, whatever the season and whatever the sky is doing.
The mixture has a visible effect across the year. Fajr drifts relative to sunrise, opening a wider gap in summer when twilight is slow and a narrower one in winter. Isha does not drift at all. It sits an hour and a half after sunset in January and an hour and a half after sunset in July. The ninety-minute interval we apply also stays at ninety minutes through Ramadan, unlike the Saudi version of the fixed-interval rule, which is extended to two hours for the month.
Across the causeway: two conventions, thirty-five kilometres apart
The King Fahd Causeway links Bahrain to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, and Manama and Khobar are only about thirty-five kilometres apart in a straight line. The sun sets on them within a minute or two of each other. Their published prayer times are nonetheless not identical, and the reason has nothing to do with geography.
Saudi Arabia follows the Umm al-Qura convention, which places Fajr at 18.5 degrees. Bahrain uses 19.5 degrees. A full degree of solar depression is worth somewhere in the region of four to six minutes at this latitude, so Bahraini Fajr is reliably earlier than Saudi Fajr on the same morning. Isha is the opposite case: both conventions use ninety minutes after Maghrib, so once Maghrib is settled the two agree closely. If you commute over the causeway, or you keep Ramadan on one side of it and work on the other, the figure to watch is Fajr and the end of suhoor, not Isha.
Which shadow rule the Asr time follows
Asr on these pages begins when an object's shadow equals its own length plus the shadow it cast at solar noon. That is the position of the Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali schools, and it is what the Gulf Region convention applies here. The Hanafi school places Asr later, waiting until the shadow reaches twice the object's length, which in Bahrain works out at roughly forty to sixty minutes after the time shown. Bahrain has a substantial South Asian workforce, and mosques serving those communities often follow that later reckoning.
Bahrain also has long-established Sunni and Shia populations, and Ja'fari practice draws some of the boundaries differently. Most noticeably, Maghrib is taken not at sunset itself but a short interval afterwards, once the redness has left the sky, and Dhuhr with Asr and Maghrib with Isha are commonly prayed together. The times on this page follow the Sunni convention. If you pray according to Ja'fari practice, use a timetable prepared on that basis.
The shape of the year on a small island
Bahrain lies near 26.2 degrees north, so its seasonal swing is moderate. The longest day of the year runs to close to thirteen and three quarter hours of daylight and the shortest to about ten and a half, a narrower range than Kuwait sees a few hundred kilometres to the north.
For fasting that means Ramadan in Bahrain is demanding in summer without ever becoming extreme. Measured properly from Fajr to Maghrib rather than sunrise to sunset, a June fast comes to around fifteen hours and a December one to about twelve. Because Isha stays ninety minutes after Maghrib all year, Taraweeh begins at a predictable distance from iftar rather than creeping later as the month progresses, which is the main practical advantage of a fixed-interval Isha over an angle.
The eight places on this page
Manama, Muharraq, Riffa, Hamad Town, Isa Town, Sitra, Budaiya and Juffair each have their own page carrying today's five prayer times, sunrise, a live countdown to the next prayer and a full monthly calendar. Bahrain observes UTC+3 throughout the year and does not adjust its clocks, so the times move only with the sun. Given how close together the eight are, choose whichever is nearest to you and expect it to hold good anywhere else on the island.
Frequently asked questions
Which calculation method is used for Bahrain?
The Gulf Region convention, which sets Fajr at 19.5 degrees of solar depression and defines Isha as a fixed ninety minutes after Maghrib. It is applied to all eight Bahraini locations on this site. The same convention is used for the United Arab Emirates, but not for Kuwait, which uses twilight angles at both ends of the night, nor for Saudi Arabia, which uses the Umm al-Qura convention with a Fajr angle of 18.5 degrees.
Do prayer times differ between Manama, Riffa and Muharraq?
Not to any degree you would notice. All eight covered locations lie within about twenty kilometres of each other, and the whole longitude spread is under two tenths of a degree, worth roughly forty seconds of solar time. After rounding to the nearest minute, the pages usually show identical times and at most differ by one minute. Any Bahraini timetable can be used anywhere on the island without introducing an error that matters.
Why is Fajr in Bahrain earlier than Fajr in Khobar, just across the causeway?
Because the two countries use different Fajr angles, not because of the distance. Bahrain follows the Gulf Region convention at 19.5 degrees of solar depression, while Saudi Arabia follows Umm al-Qura at 18.5 degrees. One degree is worth roughly four to six minutes at this latitude, so Bahraini Fajr comes first. Isha is a different story: both conventions place it ninety minutes after Maghrib, so the two sides of the causeway agree closely on that prayer.
Does Isha move later during Ramadan in Bahrain?
No. The ninety-minute interval after Maghrib we apply for Bahrain holds throughout the year, Ramadan included. This differs from Saudi Arabia, where the Umm al-Qura convention stretches its interval from ninety minutes to two hours for the month. In practice it means that Taraweeh in Bahrain follows iftar by the same predictable margin every night of Ramadan, rather than shifting later as the days lengthen.
Which Asr position do these times use?
The position shared by the Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali schools, where Asr begins once an object's shadow equals its own length plus the shadow it cast at noon. If you follow the Hanafi school, which waits for the shadow to reach twice the object's length, your Asr falls roughly forty to sixty minutes later than what is shown. Worshippers following Ja'fari practice should also note that Maghrib is reckoned a short interval after sunset rather than at sunset itself.