Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ)

Small variances typically arise from three factors:

• Calculation Convention: Different institutions adopt different twilight angles (e.g., ISNA uses 15° for North America, MWL uses 18° for Europe, and Umm al-Qura uses 18.5° for Arabia). You can customize this in SalatNow's Settings drawer.
• Safety Margins: Many local mosque committees add 2 to 5 minutes of precaution (Ihtiyat) to Dhuhr and Maghrib or subtract precaution from Fajr.
• Elevation & Horizon: Cities at high altitude or surrounded by mountainous topography experience sunrise and sunset minutes earlier or later than sea-level geometric horizons.

The difference rests on the classical juristic interpretation of shadow lengths:

• Standard (Shafi'i, Maliki, Hanbali, Ja'fari): Asr begins when the shadow of an upright object equals its height plus its noon shadow ($T=1$). This occurs earlier in the afternoon.

• Hanafi School: Imam Abu Hanifa held that Asr begins when the shadow equals twice the object's height plus its noon shadow ($T=2$), resulting in Asr starting approximately 45 to 70 minutes later depending on season and latitude.

You can toggle seamlessly between both schools in SalatNow's Settings modal.

Smartphone compasses rely on miniature 3-axis magnetometers sensitive to external electromagnetic interference:

• Magnetic Cases & Accessories: Phone cases containing magnets, metallic kickstands, or car-mount metal plates cause severe compass skew.
• Reinforced Concrete & Electronics: Being near concrete walls with steel rebar, laptops, or automotive dashboards distorts readings.
• Calibration Needed: Perform a gentle figure-8 motion in the air with your device for 5–10 seconds to recalibrate the sensor with Earth's geomagnetic field.

Because the Earth is a curved sphere rather than a flat map. The shortest path between any two points on a sphere is the Great Circle arc (Orthodrome). Drawing a straight line on a flat 2D Mercator map distorts spherical geometry. If you stretch a string between North America and Makkah on a 3D globe, the shortest distance travels northeast across Canada, Greenland, and the North Atlantic.

Above ~48° latitude during summer (e.g. United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Canada), true night never falls because the Sun does not sink 18° below the horizon. Under Islamic jurisprudence (Fiqh), estimation rules (Taqdir) apply:

• Angle-Based Method: Twilight is treated as a percentage of the total night.
• Middle of the Night (Nisf al-Layl): The interval from sunset to sunrise is divided equally.
• One-Seventh Rule: Night is divided into 7 portions, reserving the first and last sevenths for Isha and Fajr.

No, absolutely not. SalatNow is built with a zero-telemetry, privacy-first architecture. When you click "Detect GPS", your coordinates are processed strictly in client-side memory within your browser. SalatNow maintains no tracking database, no user accounts, and zero location logging servers.

Yes! SalatNow is engineered to be fully resilient offline. Once loaded, the page caches its calculations engine. Its audio chimes are generated programmatically via the Web Audio API synthesized tones, meaning no external MP3 files need to be streamed. Even in airplane mode or remote travel, you can check prayer timings seamlessly.

If a prayer was missed due to sleep or genuine forgetfulness, the prophetic instruction is clear:

"Whoever forgets a prayer or sleeps through it, its expiation is to pray it as soon as he remembers it." [Sahih al-Bukhari 597, Sahih Muslim 684]

The missed prayer should be performed in chronological order as soon as one awakes or recalls it, coupled with sincere repentance (Tawbah) and commitment to punctuality.

Adhan Time: The exact celestial moment the prayer window begins. This is what SalatNow computes with astronomical algorithms.

Iqamah Time: The congregation start time established by your local mosque committee (typically 10 to 30 minutes after the Adhan to allow congregants to perform ablution and assemble). Always check your local masjid's notice board for Iqamah schedules.