Prayer Times in Chicago, United States

Chicago prayer times explained

Chicago, United States gets its own calculation here, run from the coordinates 41.84° N, 87.69° W rather than borrowed from a larger city nearby. Two towns an hour apart see the sun rise at different moments, and since Fajr and Maghrib follow the sun rather than the clock, those minutes carry straight through to the timetable.

Today's timetable

The first call comes at 5:43 am, for Fajr. You have until 7:20 am, when the sun comes up. Dhuhr 12:34 pm, Asr 4:07 pm — the two that carry the middle of the day. Maghrib is prayed at 5:49 pm as the light goes, then Isha at 7:19 pm. Sunrise to sunset, today runs about 10 hours and 29 minutes.

The clock against the sun

The sun reaches its high point roughly 34 minutes after noon here. Hence Dhuhr at 12:34 pm, with the rest of the afternoon following along behind it. This catches people out regularly, but prayer follows the sun, and the clock is only the label we put on it.

The fasting day in Chicago

Stop eating by 5:43 am; break the fast at 5:49 pm. That is about 12 hours and 6 minutes on today's times. The full month is listed below if you want to see where the fast is heading.

Lining up with the Kaaba

Turn north-east, about 49°, for the qibla. The distance works out to about 11,152 kilometres, or 6,930 miles.

The calculation behind them

The calculation used here is 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. Asr is Hanafi on this page, so expect it later than a Shafi timetable would show. If the mosque down the road announces something a few minutes different, pray with the mosque.

If you are travelling

United States has 105 other cities covered on this site. It is worth switching to the right one when you travel — a few hundred kilometres east or west moves Fajr and Maghrib by a noticeable margin.

Isha to Fajr

From Isha to Fajr is around 10 hours and 24 minutes at the moment. The final third of the night carries particular weight in the tradition, and it is measured from Isha to Fajr rather than by the clock.

The yearly swing

The yearly swing here is substantial. In June, Fajr in Chicago can fall in the small hours with Isha holding off until late evening; in December the whole day from Fajr to Isha is over in a short span. Check the monthly timetable rather than assuming last season's times still hold.

Questions people ask

No need to bookmark a timetable: the page recalculates for Chicago daily.