Prayer Times in Ambohitrimanjaka, Madagascar

What these times mean for Ambohitrimanjaka

Being south of the equator, Ambohitrimanjaka has its long fasting days and its short ones in the opposite months to Europe or South Asia. The longest days fall around the turn of the year rather than midsummer, so northern-hemisphere advice gets the season backwards for anyone here.

How the times are worked out

These times follow Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah. The disagreement between methods lives almost entirely in Fajr and Isha, where the sun is below the horizon and the chosen angle decides the time. For Asr this page uses the Hanafi position — later in the day than the majority view. If the mosque down the road announces something a few minutes different, pray with the mosque.

For tahajjud

Ambohitrimanjaka gets roughly 8 hours and 25 minutes of night between the last prayer and the first. If you pray tahajjud, the final third of that stretch is the one to aim for; counting backwards from Fajr is the easier way to locate it.

If you are travelling

There are 14 more Madagascar cities here, and each has its own times rather than sharing Ambohitrimanjaka's. The list under the timetable below will take you to any of them.

If you are fasting

Stop eating by 3:52 am; break the fast at 5:57 pm. That is about 14 hours and 5 minutes on today's times. The monthly table further down shows the window widening or narrowing day by day, which helps when planning meals a week ahead.

A quirk of the timezone

The sun reaches its high point roughly 26 minutes before noon here. It explains the 11:34 am Dhuhr — the timezone boundary is drawn some way from this city's own meridian. Nothing is wrong with the calculation; timezones are political lines, and the sun does not consult them.

From Fajr to Isha

The first call comes at 3:52 am, for Fajr. You have until 5:11 am, when the sun comes up. Next is Dhuhr at 11:34 am, then Asr in the afternoon at 4:03 pm. Maghrib is prayed at 5:57 pm as the light goes, then Isha at 7:27 pm. Sunrise to sunset, today runs about 12 hours and 46 minutes.

Lining up with the Kaaba

Turn north, about 349°, for the qibla. The distance works out to about 4,554 kilometres, or 2,830 miles. Compass apps usually read magnetic north rather than true north, so allow a few degrees of local declination if you are setting a prayer mat precisely.

Questions people ask