Prayer Times in Homs, Syria Today

The gap in the mountains, and why it does not change the table

Homs stands at about 34.73 degrees north and 36.71 degrees east, in the break between the coastal range and the mountains further inland — the corridor that has carried traffic between the Mediterranean and the interior for as long as there has been traffic to carry. The city sits on the Orontes at a little under 500 metres.

It is reasonable to expect that a place set in a gap between two mountain ranges would have unusual sunrise and sunset times, and the honest answer is that the published table does not reflect the terrain at all. Prayer time calculations everywhere assume a flat, unobstructed, sea-level horizon. That is the convention the mosques here work to as well, which is why the table and the local call agree even on days when neither matches what you can see from a particular street.

Between the capital and the north

Homs lies almost exactly between Damascus and Aleppo, and its times reflect that. Its longitude, 36.71 east, is roughly 1.7 minutes ahead of Damascus and 1.7 minutes behind Aleppo — differences that mostly vanish once figures are rounded to the minute.

Latitude does more. At 34.73 north Homs sits between the two, so its annual swing in daylight is intermediate: wider than Damascus, narrower than Aleppo. Across the country the whole longitude spread from the coast to the far northeast is only around five minutes, which makes Syria a compact country by prayer-time standards. What separates Syrian cities is mainly how far north they are.

The parameters, and the clock they sit on

Fajr is computed at 19.5 degrees of solar depression and Isha at 17.5, the Egyptian General Authority of Survey convention used for every Syrian city here and set out on the Syria prayer times hub.

Syria has been on UTC+3 without seasonal adjustment since 2022, when it stopped changing its clocks. In winter that put every listed time an hour later than the equivalent entry on a pre-2022 timetable. Summer figures were unchanged. If an old sheet or an out-of-date app disagrees with this page by precisely one hour in the colder months, that is the reason.

Asr, and the two answers

Asr in this table opens once a vertical object's shadow has grown by one further object-height beyond its shortest point at midday. That is the Shafi'i and majority threshold, and it is what the regional convention assumes.

Hanafi reckoning waits for a second such length, which puts Asr roughly forty minutes to an hour later. Both schools have a presence in Homs, so two households in the same neighbourhood can quite properly pray Asr at different times without either being in error. It is worth knowing which your app is set to.

The Khalid ibn al-Walid Mosque

The Khalid ibn al-Walid Mosque is the best-known religious building in the city and has been a focal point for congregation here for a very long time. It suffered serious damage during the conflict and has since undergone restoration work.

Nothing about the state of any particular building alters the timetable. The times published here are astronomical, derived from the city's coordinates, and they hold whether a given mosque is open, closed or under repair. Where the congregation gathers is a separate question from when the window opens.

What sunrise is doing in the list

Sunrise marks the end of the period in which Fajr may still be prayed. No prayer falls at that time. It is commonly confused with the start of the Ramadan fast, which begins at Fajr instead — an appreciable distance earlier under the dawn angle in use.

Daylight across the year

At just under thirty-five degrees north, daylight here runs from a little under ten hours in midwinter to close to fourteen and three-quarter hours at the height of summer. Fajr and Maghrib each travel well over an hour between their extremes, moving in opposite directions.

Isha follows an angle rather than a fixed interval after Maghrib, so the evening gap between the two is not constant either. It opens out in one season and closes in another, which is worth remembering before building a routine around it.

The fasting month

The fast runs from Fajr to Maghrib, both of which move steadily over the thirty days. Checking the monthly view once at the beginning is more reliable than reading a single day and assuming it stands for the rest.

Mosques often announce an imsak a few minutes before the calculated Fajr as a precaution, and this page does not build that margin in. What is published is the astronomical time; the margin is a matter for you and your mosque.

The Friday gathering

Jumu'ah replaces Dhuhr for those attending and is timed from the Dhuhr entry above. Each mosque decides how long after the call the khutbah begins, and sermon length is the imam's. Anyone praying at home performs Dhuhr at the ordinary listed time.

Working out the direction, and other pages

The Qibla direction tool resolves the bearing from your own coordinates, which is the right way to settle it rather than relying on memory or on a direction that worked in a different building. Ramadan and Eid dates are listed on the Hijri calendar, and Arabic Homs prayer times carry the same table. Nearby, see Hama prayer times to the north and Tartus prayer times on the coast.