How Singapore prayer times work

The five daily prayers, and Syuruk

Muslims pray five obligatory prayers a day, each within its own window of time. The day's prayers run from before dawn to night: Subuh (2 raka'at), Zohor (4), Asar (4), Maghrib (3) and Isyak (4). Between Subuh and Zohor sits Syuruk (sunrise), which is not a prayer but the boundary that closes the Subuh window. Each waktu below links to its own page with today's time and this month's schedule.

How MUIS derives each time

MUIS does not use a generic city approximation — it computes the timetable astronomically for Singapore's coordinates. Each waktu is tied to a specific position of the sun. The two twilight prayers, Subuh and Isyak, use solar-depression angles (how far the sun sits below the horizon); the rest track sunrise, solar noon, a shadow ratio and sunset.

For Asar, MUIS follows the Shafi'i school that predominates in Singapore: the window opens when an object's shadow equals its own length plus the shadow it cast at noon. The Hanafi school waits for the shadow to reach twice the object's length, which begins Asar later — so the MUIS Asar is the earlier of the two timings.

Why the times barely drift here

Singapore sits almost on the equator, about 1.3° north. The sun rises and sets at nearly the same clock time all year, day length stays close to 12 hours, and dawn and dusk twilight are short. That is why the whole timetable moves so little between January and December — a few minutes, not the hours of swing seen in Europe or northern Asia. One consequence worth knowing: because Singapore keeps its clocks at UTC+8 (a zone centred on 120° east) while the country actually sits near 104° east, solar noon falls after 1 PM, so Zohor is a one-o'clock prayer rather than a noon one.

Range across the whole 2026 MUIS timetable — the full seasonal swing for each waktu.

Published time vs the mosque jamaah

The MUIS time for each prayer is the start of its window — the earliest the prayer may be offered, not a fixed appointment. Mosques hold the congregational (jamaah) prayer a little after the published time so worshippers have time to gather and complete their ablution, so the iqamah at your local mosque is usually a few minutes later. If you pray alone, the published time is when you may begin; the prayer then remains valid until the next waktu opens.

Ramadan: Imsak and iftar

During Ramadan the same timetable drives the fast. Imsak — when the pre-dawn meal (sahur) should stop — is set 10 minutes before Subuh, and iftar (breaking the fast) is at Maghrib. The full daily fasting schedule is on the Ramadan page.

Common questions