Colombo Prayer Times — Sri Lanka Salah, Sehri & Iftar

Every time on this page is derived from the position of the sun for the chosen date and the city's latitude (φ), longitude (L) and timezone (Sri Lanka Standard Time, UTC+5:30). The astronomy follows the published PrayTimes.org formulation, with the solar declination (δ) and equation of time (EoT) from the standard low-precision solar model; an independent NOAA/Spencer series is run alongside it as a cross-check.

1. Dhuhr (solar noon).The anchor for every other time: local clock noon corrected by the equation of time and the city's longitude — Dhuhr = (12 − EoT) + (TZ − L/15).
2. Sunrise & Sunset (Iftar/Maghrib).Solve the hour angle H for a sun altitude of −0.833° (atmospheric refraction plus the sun's semi-diameter): cos H = (sin(−0.833°) − sinφ·sinδ) / (cosφ·cosδ). Sunrise = Dhuhr − H/15; Maghrib = Dhuhr + H/15.
3. Fajr & Isha.The same hour-angle equation with the method's depression angle in place of 0.833°. The ACJU/Karachi default uses 18° for both. Umm al-Qura instead sets Isha to a fixed 90 minutes after Maghrib.
4. Asr.The afternoon prayer begins when an object's shadow reaches a set multiple of its height. The target altitude α satisfies cot α = t + tan|φ − δ|, with t = 1 for Standard (Shafi'i) or t = 2 for Hanafi. Asr = Dhuhr + H/15.
5. Sehri (Imsak). Sehri = Fajr − your chosen margin (default 10 minutes). Iftar is simply Maghrib.

Each fractional hour is converted to HH:MM and rounded to the nearest minute. Because Sri Lanka lies close to the equator, the sun always crosses every one of these altitudes each day, so the "no true night" problem that complicates high-latitude calculators never occurs here. The tool reports the agreement between the two independent solar models (typically well under 0.1°) so you can see the computation is internally corroborated.

• All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) — Sri Lanka's recognised prayer-timetable authority
• PrayTimes.org — prayer-time calculation reference (angles, hour-angle and Asr formulas)
• NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory — Solar Calculator & solar position algorithm

The angle conventions and formulas on this page were last cross-checked against the ACJU-style published Colombo, Kandy and Jaffna timetables on 2026-06-09. For obligatory prayers, follow your local mosque if its timetable differs by a minute or two.