How to Read a British Mosque Timetable

A British mosque timetable carries more columns than most apps show, and the extra columns are the useful ones. Learning to read them explains most of the apparent contradictions between a wall chart and a phone screen.

Begins and Jamaah are different things

Almost every British timetable prints two times per prayer. Begins is the astronomical start of the prayer window — the moment the time enters. Jamaah is when the congregation actually prays, set by the mosque committee for practical reasons and usually a fixed, rounded time that changes only every week or two. An app shows you Begins. If your app and the wall chart disagree by twenty minutes, you are almost certainly comparing Begins against Jamaah.

One mithl and two mithl

Many British timetables print two Asr times, labelled 1 Mithl and 2 Mithl. Mithl means an object's own length. The first is when the shadow equals the object's height, the position of the Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali schools; the second is when it equals twice the height, the Hanafi position. Both are printed because British congregations include both. The gap between them runs from about twenty minutes to over an hour depending on the season.

Imsak and Sahur

During Ramadan a timetable may add an Imsak column a few minutes before Fajr. This is a precautionary stopping point for eating, not a separate prayer time. Where a timetable shows only Fajr, that is the boundary.

Friday is different

The Zuhr Jamaah column on a Friday gives the Jumuah time, and the khutbah usually begins around half an hour before it. Larger British mosques often run two or three Jumuah sittings, so check which one your timetable is quoting.

Why your app shows something else

Three reasons account for nearly all differences. You may be comparing Begins with Jamaah. You may be comparing one mithl with two. Or the timetable may use a different Fajr and Isha angle than your app — the main open question in British practice. None of these is an error on either side.

• London Prayer Times
• Birmingham Prayer Times
• Leicester Prayer Times
• Bradford Prayer Times

What QiblaTap shows

We publish Begins times only — the astronomical entry of each prayer — because congregation times are set locally by each mosque and cannot be calculated. We show the one-mithl Asr for the United Kingdom. Underneath every table we name the calculation method used, so you can see exactly what you are comparing against.

Getting your mosque's own times

For congregational prayers there is no substitute for your own mosque's chart, and most British mosques now publish it online or in an app. Use ours for the astronomical times, the qibla direction and the monthly overview, and your mosque's for when to arrive.