Sterling Prayer Times

Prayer Times in Sterling, Virginia

Sterlingprayer times are calculated based on the city's precise geographic coordinates (39.0026°N, 77.4080°W) using the ISNA calculation method — the standard used by most mosques in Virginia and across the United States. Times shown are for today's date and update automatically at midnight.

The five daily prayers — Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha — are calculated from the sun's position relative to Sterling's latitude and longitude. As the sun's declination changes throughout the year, prayer times shift by several minutes each day. This is why a Sterling prayer time calendar for the full month is shown below — so you can plan ahead without checking daily.

How Sterling's prayer times are worked out

Sterling sits 10,653 km (6,620 miles) from the Kaaba in Mecca, so the Qibla from here is 56° from true north — you face northeast to pray. Fajr and Isha depend on how far the sun drops below the horizon, and Virginia follows the ISNA method set by the Islamic Society of North America: Fajr begins when the sun is 15° below the horizon, and Isha when it reaches 15°. A city that used ISNA's 15° instead would get a noticeably different Fajr — which is why the method, not just the coordinates, decides the answer.

Day length is what really moves the timetable in Sterling. Measured with the ISNA method, the longest daily fast here — from Fajr to Maghrib — runs about 16h 30m around June, while the shortest is roughly 10h 46m in December: a swing of 5h 44m across the year. That spread is set by Sterling's latitude (39.00°N); cities nearer the equator barely vary, while far-northern ones swing by many hours.

One local quirk worth knowing: Dhuhr in Sterling does not fall at 12:00. Because the city sits well west within its America/New York time zone, the sun peaks about 78 minutes after clock noon, and Dhuhr follows the sun rather than the clock — today it is at 1:17 PM. The nearest cities we also publish times for are Herndon, Falls Church, Silver Spring — close enough that their times differ from Sterling's by only a few minutes.