Prayer Times
Prayer Times in Iraq — All Cities
Iraq is computed on the Muslim World League angles, with dawn reckoned at 18 degrees below the horizon and nightfall at 17. The country has held one clock at UTC+3 with no daylight saving since 2008, so nothing on this page shifts by a seasonal hour. Each of the eight cities listed is calculated from its own coordinates.
Iraq stopped changing its clocks in 2008
Iraq used to move its clocks forward for the summer. It abolished the practice, and since 2008 the country has stayed on UTC+3 through the whole year with no seasonal adjustment. For a prayer timetable this is a genuine simplification: there is no spring or autumn weekend on which every entry jumps by an hour, and no ambiguity about which offset was in force on a given date.
Iraq also happens to be well matched to the timezone it keeps. UTC+3 is centred on the forty fifth meridian east, and Baghdad lies at roughly 44.4 degrees east, only a fraction west of it. The result is that clock noon and solar noon in Baghdad fall close together, so Dhuhr arrives shortly after midday by the clock. Countries whose legal time is stretched far from their true meridian do not have that alignment, and their Dhuhr can sit an hour or more away from twelve. Iraq does not have that problem.
Twilight angles from the Muslim World League
The angles behind the Iraqi figures come from the Muslim World League: dawn reckoned at 18 degrees below the horizon, nightfall at 17. Both ends of the night are therefore governed by twilight rather than by a fixed count of minutes, so the interval between Maghrib and Isha stretches through the summer and contracts through the winter.
At Iraqi latitudes, between about 30 and 36 degrees north, that seasonal movement is substantial without becoming a problem. The country lies far enough south that true astronomical night occurs on every night of the year, so neither Fajr nor Isha ever has to be estimated by a high-latitude fallback rule. Everything published for Iraq is an ordinary calculation from the sun position, all year.
Two juristic traditions, and two reckonings of Maghrib
Iraq has both large Sunni and large Shia populations. This is one of the few countries where that difference shows up on the prayer timetable itself rather than only in matters of form, so it is worth stating clearly.
The main point concerns Maghrib. Sunni jurisprudence takes Maghrib to begin at sunset, the moment the sun disappears. Twelver Shia jurisprudence generally holds that it begins somewhat later, once the redness remaining in the eastern sky has passed overhead, which in practice falls in the region of a quarter of an hour after the sun has gone. A second difference is combining: praying Dhuhr together with Asr, and Maghrib together with Isha, is widespread in Shia practice. That changes when a prayer is performed rather than when its window opens.
The times published here are computed to the convention assigned to Iraq, which reckons Maghrib at sunset. We do not adjudicate between the schools. If you follow the Shia position, add the delay your own marja specifies, or take your times from your mosque or husayniyya.
Najaf, Karbala and visitors from abroad
Najaf and Karbala receive very large numbers of visitors, particularly around Arbaeen, and a substantial share of those visitors come from outside Iraq. Two practical points follow.
The first is that the two cities lie only about seventy five kilometres apart, and their prayer times differ by at most a couple of minutes. If you are moving between the shrines, either timetable will serve you. The second is that most visitors arrive from Iran, Pakistan, India, Lebanon or the Gulf states, all of which use different calculation conventions, and Iran keeps a clock offset that is not a whole number of hours from Iraq. The timetable you use at home will not transfer. Use the Iraqi city page while you are in Iraq, and take the Maghrib reckoning you follow from the shrine or from your group.
Mosul and Erbil in the north, Basra on the Gulf
Iraq covers around six degrees of latitude, from Basra near 30.5 degrees north to Mosul and Erbil at just over 36. Under a single year-round clock that produces a difference between north and south which is not constant but seasonal, and the way it behaves is worth understanding.
Near the summer solstice, Maghrib in Mosul falls more than half an hour after Maghrib in Basra, because the northern city has the far longer day. Near the winter solstice the latitude effect reverses while the longitude difference pulls the other way, and the two cities end up within a few minutes of one another. Erbil and Kirkuk track Mosul closely. Sulaymaniyah, the furthest east of the eight, reaches sunset a little before the rest of the north. Baghdad, Najaf and Karbala sit in the middle of the range in every respect.
The eight Iraqi cities listed here
We publish Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Erbil, Najaf, Karbala, Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah, each calculated from its own stored coordinates. That is the full extent of our Iraqi coverage, and we do not generate times for places whose coordinates we do not hold. Each city page carries the five prayers for today alongside sunrise, a live counter to whichever prayer is next, and thirty days of dates. The method used is printed under the table.
Frequently asked questions
Does Iraq observe daylight saving time?
No. Iraq abolished the seasonal clock change and has remained on UTC+3 continuously since 2008. Prayer times therefore move only with the sun through the year, and there is no weekend on which the whole timetable shifts by an hour. Iraq is also well aligned with the timezone it keeps, because UTC+3 is centred on the forty fifth meridian east and Baghdad sits at about 44.4 degrees east, so clock noon and solar noon are close together.
Why do some Iraqis pray Maghrib later than the time shown?
Because Twelver Shia jurisprudence reckons Maghrib differently. Sunni jurisprudence begins Maghrib at sunset, when the disc disappears. The Shia position generally waits until the redness remaining in the eastern sky has passed overhead, which falls in the region of a quarter of an hour after sunset. The times on this site use the sunset reckoning under the convention assigned to Iraq. If you follow the Shia position, add the delay your marja specifies or follow your own mosque.
Are prayer times different in Najaf and Karbala?
Barely. The two cities are roughly seventy five kilometres apart, close in both latitude and longitude, and their calculated prayer times differ by at most a couple of minutes at any point in the year. Either page will serve if you are travelling between the shrines. What matters more for visitors is that the convention used in Iraq differs from the one used in their home country, so times carried from Iran, Pakistan or the Gulf will not match.
How much difference is there between Mosul and Basra?
It depends entirely on the season, and that surprises people. In late June, Maghrib in Mosul falls more than half an hour after Maghrib in Basra, because Mosul lies almost six degrees further north and has a much longer day. In late December the two cities are within a few minutes of one another, as the latitude effect reverses and the longitude difference works against it. Always use the page for the city you are actually in.
What calculation method is used for Iraqi cities?
The angles come from the Muslim World League: dawn at 18 degrees below the horizon, nightfall at 17. Both are twilight measures rather than fixed intervals, so the gap between Maghrib and Isha widens in summer and narrows in winter. Iraq lies between about 30 and 36 degrees north, far enough south that true night falls on every night of the year, so no high-latitude approximation is ever needed for Fajr or Isha.