PRAYER TIME. During Ramadan, prayers and fasting punctuate the days of Muslims at very specific times.
Ramadan fasting is a demanding practice for all Muslims who comply with it. For a month until the Eid holiday, the days of millions of practicing believers are punctuated by the course of the sun and prayers associated with specific times, some of which mark the resumption and breaking of the fast each day. These appointments follow the Islamic lunar calendar and the solar clock.
But as the days lengthen by a few minutes every day until the summer solstice, prayer times and times of fasting differ from one day to another, and even from one city to another, sometimes with up to an hour difference between the east of France, where the sun rises earlier, and the west where it sets later. It is therefore difficult to strictly observe all the traditions of Ramadan, in particular the five daily prayers and fasting, without a precise timetable.
Ramadan is often associated with the fast observed by practicing Muslims, but the prayers are just as important as the deprivation of food. The five daily prayers – Fajr at dawn, Dohr at noon, Asser in the afternoon, Maghreb at sunset and Ishaa at dusk – are part of the five pillars of Islam, along with the monthly fast of Ramadan or the pilgrimage to Mecca. Moreover, the prayers correspond, within a few minutes, to the start and end times of the fast: Imsak and Iftar.
Muslims practicing the Ramadan fast can eat in the early morning but must stop drinking and eating at the time of Imsak which marks the start of the daily fast. Imsak shifts by a few minutes each day according to sunrise, but always occurs 10 minutes before the time of “Fajr”, the first prayer of the day.
The “Maghreb” prayer is also particularly scrutinized. It corresponds to the moment when the sun sets and therefore marks the time of Iftar, this moment when believers can start eating again every evening during the month of Ramadan. The meal should remain light, unlike the meal taken in the morning before starting the fast again. It is a dinner which marks the end of a day of physical and mental asceticism.
All prayers during the day of Ramadan follow the movement of the sun, since the time of fasting is determined by daybreak and nightfall. Muslims, following the injunctions of Ramadan, must therefore have on hand a precise calendar of prayer times, since the times change every day, due to the lengthening of the day until the summer solstice. Here are the prayer times that prevail for the month of Ramadan, for the city of Paris. Note that prayer times and fasting times differ depending on the geographical location of believers: between Marseille, Paris and Bordeaux since dawn and sunset do not occur at the same time.
Prayers are all important during the Muslim fasting month. Believers in fact indulge in interludes of introspection, reflection and meditation on their situation as well as relationships with others. Praying several times during the day is one of the moral injunctions of Ramadan. And these prayers truly punctuate the day:
The Chourouk prayer (or Chourouq) is an optional prayer recommended after the appearance of the sun, it takes place approximately 1h30 after the Fajr prayer.
