Prayer Times
Prayer Times in Morocco — All Cities
Morocco calculates prayer times using the convention of the Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs, the state body that administers religious endowments and mosques. Morocco is also one of the very few countries that suspends its national clock for Ramadan, dropping from UTC+1 back to UTC+0 for the month, which moves every time on this page by a full hour.
The month when the clocks go back
Morocco keeps a standing offset of UTC+1 for most of the year, and it is one of the very few countries anywhere that suspends its national clock for a religious month. For the duration of Ramadan the country returns to UTC+0, and the hour is restored once the month ends. This is a settled practice rather than a one-off decision, though the dates are announced by the government ahead of each Ramadan rather than fixed to the Gregorian calendar.
The effect on prayer times is complete and immediate. Nothing astronomical changes; the sun rises and sets precisely when it always would. But every entry on a Moroccan timetable reads an hour earlier for the duration of the month, and moves back again after Eid.
Because Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, it falls roughly eleven days earlier each Gregorian year, so these two transitions travel steadily through the seasons instead of sitting in spring and autumn the way summer time changes do elsewhere. Our Moroccan times are generated from the Africa/Casablanca timezone entry, which carries the Ramadan exception, so the change is applied on the correct days. Printed timetables produced before the dates were announced are the ones to treat with caution.
An hour ahead of its own sun
Set the Ramadan exception aside and Morocco runs on UTC+1 permanently, with no seasonal adjustment at all. That matters, because the entire country lies west of the Greenwich meridian: Agadir at 9.6 degrees west, Casablanca at 7.6, and even Oujda on the Algerian border at 1.9 west. Applying a clock an hour ahead of Greenwich to territory that far west opens a wide gap between civil and solar time.
In practice, solar noon across Morocco falls well after twelve by the clock, and Dhuhr follows it. Sunset by the clock is late compared with countries at similar latitudes further east. This is not an error in the timetable but the offset the country has chosen to keep, and it explains why the Ramadan suspension is felt so strongly: removing the hour pulls the clock back towards the sun for the one month in which sunset governs the shape of the day.
The Habous convention
Prayer times in Morocco follow the convention maintained by the Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs, the state body responsible for religious endowments and mosque administration. It is an angle-based convention: Fajr and Isha are defined by how far below the horizon the sun sits at first light and at the end of evening twilight. Both therefore drift gradually through the year as the length of twilight changes with the season.
That is a different design from the fixed-interval approach used across the Arabian Peninsula, where Isha is counted as a set number of minutes after Maghrib. It also means Moroccan times are not interchangeable with those from the international default conventions. Every Moroccan city here is calculated to the Habous standard, which is what mosques in the country work to, so these figures should agree with the timetable posted at your local mosque.
From Agadir to Oujda
Morocco is wide from west to east and all of it shares one clock. Agadir on the Atlantic sits at 9.6 degrees west; Oujda, near the Algerian frontier, at 1.9 west. The earth turns through one degree of longitude every four minutes, so that separation of nearly eight degrees puts sunset in Agadir around half an hour after sunset in Oujda on the same day. Anyone crossing the country should take the times for the city they are in.
There is a north to south component too, though a smaller one. Tangier and Tetouan on the Mediterranean sit above 35 degrees north, while Agadir is at 30.4, so the seasonal movement of Fajr and Isha is more pronounced in Tangier than in Agadir.
One caveat applies inland. Calculations of this kind assume a clear horizon at sea level, but Marrakech lies beneath the High Atlas, and in any city with high ground to the west the sun can drop behind a ridge a few minutes before the calculated Maghrib. Where local practice differs, follow the mosque.
Maliki practice and the afternoon prayer
Morocco is Maliki almost throughout, and on the timing of Asr the Maliki position coincides with the Shafi'i and Hanbali one: Asr begins when an object's shadow equals its own length plus the shadow it cast at solar noon. That is the reckoning applied to every Moroccan city on this site.
The result is that the confusion familiar in countries with mixed populations, where two Asr times circulate in one city, barely arises here. The Hanafi reckoning waits until the shadow reaches twice the object's length, roughly forty to sixty minutes later, but it is not local practice in Morocco. Visitors who follow it should expect our Asr to be earlier than the one they use at home.
The ten cities on this page
We publish times for Casablanca, Rabat, Marrakech, Fes, Tangier, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Tetouan and Kenitra, each with its own stored coordinates rather than an approximation inherited from the capital. Rabat and Kenitra are close enough that their times differ by a minute or two; Agadir and Oujda are the extremes, and the gap between them is the widest in the country.
Select any city below for today's five prayer times, sunrise, a live countdown to the next prayer, and a full calendar for the current month.
Frequently asked questions
Does Morocco really change its clocks for Ramadan?
Yes. Morocco keeps a standing offset of UTC+1 for most of the year and suspends it for the month of Ramadan, returning to UTC+0 and restoring the hour once the month has ended. The dates are announced by the government ahead of each Ramadan rather than being fixed to the Gregorian calendar. Nothing astronomical changes, but every prayer time on a Moroccan timetable reads a full hour earlier for the duration of the month.
Which authority sets prayer times in Morocco?
The Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs, the state body responsible for religious endowments and mosque administration. Its convention is angle-based, defining Fajr and Isha by how far the sun sits below the horizon at first light and at the close of evening twilight, so both move gradually through the year. Every Moroccan city on this site is calculated to that standard rather than to an international default, which is why the times here should match your local mosque.
Why does the sun set later in Agadir than in Oujda?
Because Morocco spans nearly eight degrees of longitude and puts all of it on a single clock. Agadir is at 9.6 degrees west on the Atlantic coast, while Oujda is at 1.9 west near the Algerian border. The earth turns through one degree every four minutes, so Maghrib in Agadir falls roughly half an hour after Maghrib in Oujda on the same day. Use the page for the city you are actually in rather than carrying one timetable across the country.
Is the Asr time shown here correct for Maliki practice?
Yes. Morocco is Maliki, and the Maliki position on Asr is the same as the Shafi'i and Hanbali one: Asr begins when an object's shadow equals its own length plus the shadow it cast at solar noon. That is the reckoning used for every Moroccan city here. The Hanafi position, which waits for the shadow to reach twice the object's length and so falls forty to sixty minutes later, is not local practice in Morocco.
Why does midday fall so long after twelve o'clock in Morocco?
Because the whole country lies west of the Greenwich meridian while keeping a clock an hour ahead of it. Casablanca is at 7.6 degrees west and Agadir at 9.6, so civil time runs well ahead of the sun and Dhuhr falls late by the clock. The gap narrows during Ramadan, when Morocco drops back to UTC+0 for the month and the clock returns to closer agreement with the sun.