Washington DC Prayer Times

Prayer Times in Washington DC, District of Columbia

Washington DCprayer times are calculated based on the city's precise geographic coordinates (38.9072°N, 77.0369°W) using the ISNA calculation method — the standard used by most mosques in District of Columbia 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 Washington DC'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 Washington DC prayer time calendar for the full month is shown below — so you can plan ahead without checking daily.

How Washington DC's prayer times are worked out

Washington DC sits 10,632 km (6,607 miles) from the Kaaba in Mecca, so the Qibla from here is 57° from true north — you face northeast to pray. Fajr and Isha depend on how far the sun drops below the horizon, and District of Columbia 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 Washington DC. Measured with the ISNA method, the longest daily fast here — from Fajr to Maghrib — runs about 16h 29m around June, while the shortest is roughly 10h 46m in December: a swing of 5h 43m across the year. That spread is set by Washington DC's latitude (38.91°N); cities nearer the equator barely vary, while far-northern ones swing by many hours.

One local quirk worth knowing: Dhuhr in Washington DC does not fall at 12:00. Because the city sits well west within its America/New York time zone, the sun peaks about 77 minutes after clock noon, and Dhuhr follows the sun rather than the clock — today it is at 1:15 PM. The nearest cities we also publish times for are Silver Spring, Alexandria, Falls Church — close enough that their times differ from Washington DC's by only a few minutes.