Prayer Times
Prayer Times in Bangladesh — All Cities
Bangladesh is calculated to the convention of the University of Islamic Sciences in Karachi, with Fajr and Isha both set at 18 degrees of solar depression. The country keeps UTC+6 all year without daylight saving, and because it is geographically compact, the ten cities listed here differ from one another by only a few minutes.
A country that sits almost on its own meridian
Bangladesh occupies an unusual position among the countries covered on this site. Its clock is set to UTC+6, and the meridian on which that offset is centred runs close to Dhaka itself. Most countries are pulled some distance from their solar time by the shape of their timezone: Malaysia runs well over an hour ahead of its sun, and much of Pakistan runs behind its clock. Bangladesh is nearly in step with the sun it actually sees.
The practical effect is that Dhuhr falls close to the middle of the day rather than well into the afternoon, and that the whole timetable feels early to visitors from further west. Sunrise in a Bangladeshi summer comes very early on the clock, and Maghrib arrives correspondingly early in the evening. Nothing about the calculation is different; the clock is simply honest about where the sun is.
Ten cities inside a narrow span
The country is small in the terms that matter for prayer times. Khulna in the south west sits near 89.5 degrees east and Sylhet in the north east near 91.9 degrees, a spread of a little over two degrees of longitude. At four minutes to the degree that is under ten minutes of solar time between the two most widely separated cities we publish. Latitude adds a similarly narrow range, from Chittagong and Barisal a little above 22 degrees north to Rangpur near 25.7 degrees.
It is worth saying plainly what that means rather than dressing it up. Bangladeshi prayer times are close to uniform. Sylhet reaches Maghrib first and Khulna last, with Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Comilla, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Barisal and Rangpur strung between them, and the whole spread fits inside about ten minutes. A Dhaka timetable used in Comilla or Narayanganj will be right to within a minute or two. Used in Sylhet or Khulna it will be a handful of minutes out, which matters at iftar and at the close of sehri but rarely anywhere else.
The convention behind the numbers
The Fajr and Isha figures come from the convention published by the University of Islamic Sciences in Karachi, the standard long used across the subcontinent and applied here to Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. It defines Fajr as the moment the centre of the sun reaches 18 degrees below the horizon before sunrise, and Isha as the moment it reaches the same depth after sunset.
Both being angles, both move with the season. The interval between Maghrib and Isha is longer in the Bangladeshi summer and shorter in winter, unlike the fixed ninety minute Isha used across the Arabian Peninsula. Many Bangladeshis work in the Gulf and notice this the moment they come home: an Isha that had been reliably an hour and a half after sunset in Riyadh or Doha starts drifting once they are back in Dhaka.
Asr and the Hanafi measure of the shadow
Asr divides the schools, and Bangladesh sits firmly on one side of that division. The Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali position is that Asr begins when a vertical object throws a shadow equal to its own length, counted on top of the shadow it cast at solar noon. The Hanafi position is that it begins later, once that shadow has reached twice the object's length plus the noon shadow.
Bangladesh is overwhelmingly Hanafi, and the Asr namaz announced in mosques across the country follows the later measure. The Asr time published on these pages uses the earlier one. The distance between them is around forty to sixty minutes, a little wider in summer than in winter. If the time you see here is well ahead of the one called at your local mosque, that is the explanation, and your mosque is the reference to follow. We publish the earlier figure because it is the standard output of the calculation, not as a judgement between two established positions.
Sehri, iftar and roza through a Bengali year
At Fajr sehri ends; at Maghrib iftar begins. Both times sit on every Bangladeshi city page, with a monthly calendar underneath that lays out the whole of Ramadan at once. Bangladeshi timetables often print a sehri ending time a few minutes ahead of the calculated Fajr as a precaution, and we do not build that margin into our figure, so treat our Fajr as the last moment rather than the intended one.
There is a weather note worth making. From roughly June to September the monsoon brings heavy cloud over much of the country, and in the winter months haze can sit low over the delta. Neither changes the calculation, because the sun is where it is whether or not you can see it. What they change is what the sky looks like: the horizon is frequently invisible, evenings darken before the printed Maghrib and mornings brighten after the printed Fajr. Under those conditions the mosque, not the appearance of the sky, is the sensible guide.
The ten cities we publish
Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal, Rangpur, Comilla, Narayanganj and Gazipur each have their own page, calculated from their own stored coordinates rather than from a national average. Narayanganj and Gazipur sit close enough to the capital that their figures run within a minute of Dhaka.
Each page carries today's five namaz timings and sunrise, a live countdown to the next prayer, and the full monthly calendar. The calculation method in force is named beneath the times table.
Frequently asked questions
Which calculation method is used for Bangladesh?
The convention of the University of Islamic Sciences in Karachi, which sets Fajr at 18 degrees of solar depression and Isha at the same 18 degrees. It is the standard long used across the subcontinent, and this site applies it to Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Because both times come from twilight angles rather than from a fixed number of minutes after sunset, the gap between Maghrib and Isha widens in summer and narrows in winter instead of holding steady.
Do prayer times differ much between Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet?
Not by much. The whole country spans a little over two degrees of longitude across the cities we cover, which is under ten minutes of solar time from Sylhet in the north east to Khulna in the south west. Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur and Comilla are within a minute or two of each other. A Dhaka timetable is usable almost anywhere in Bangladesh, though at iftar and at the close of sehri it is still better to use your own city.
Why is the Asr namaz at my mosque later than the time on this page?
Because Bangladesh is overwhelmingly Hanafi, and the Hanafi position begins Asr only when an object's shadow reaches twice its own length plus the shadow it cast at noon. The time published here uses the earlier reckoning shared by the Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali schools, where the shadow equals the object's length. That places our figure roughly forty to sixty minutes ahead of the Hanafi one. Both positions are long established, so follow the time called at your own mosque.
Does Bangladesh use daylight saving time?
No. Bangladesh keeps UTC+6 throughout the year with no seasonal changeover, so the prayer timetable moves only with the sun. The country also sits close to the meridian on which that offset is centred, which means clock time and solar time run near each other. This is why sunrise and Maghrib both feel early to visitors from countries whose clocks are set well ahead of their own sun.
Does monsoon cloud affect the prayer times shown?
No. Calculated times depend on the position of the sun, not on whether the sky is clear, so heavy monsoon cloud between roughly June and September leaves the figures unchanged. What it changes is the appearance of the sky. The horizon is often hidden, evenings look dark before the printed Maghrib and mornings look light after the printed Fajr. In those conditions, and in winter haze over the delta, take your timing from the mosque rather than from observation.