Nearest Day

(Aqrab Al-Ayyam)

This principle is due to the jurists following the Hanafi school. The principle is, for those places where during a period of time the twilight does not end, the time for Sahur for this "abnormal" period will be taken as the time for the last day on which twilight ended. For example in Aberdeen the last day on which twilight ends in the night and then begins in the morning (at 1.20 am) is 30th April. Hence throughout the abnormal period (1st May to 12th August) the limit time for Sahur will remain at 1.20 am.

Nearest Latitude

(Aqrab Al-Balad)

This principle is due to the fellow jurists of the Shafi school. Add the interval between sunset and Isha for a location on latitude 48 degrees to the local sunset time to obtain time for local Isha. Similarly the interval between Fajr and sunrise for a location on latitude 48 degrees is subtracted from local sunrise to obtain local fajr time.

Middle of the Night

(Nisf Al-Lail)

This principle is due to the latter jurists. The period from sunset to sunrise is divided into two halves. The first half is considered to be the "night" and the other half as "day break". Isha is offered before the midpoint (e.g. 15 minutes before) and Fajr is offered after the midpoint.

One-seventh of the Night

(Sabe Min-Lail)

This principle is again attributed to recent jurists. The period between sunset and sunrise is divided in seven parts. Isha is offered after the first segment and fajr is offered after the sixth segment.