IPRAYTIME(1) User Commands IPRAYTIME(1)
NAME
ipraytime - An Islamic Prayer Times Calculator
SYNOPSIS
ipraytime [--date yyyymmdd] [--latitude real_num] [--longitude real_num]
[--utcdiff real_num] [--method int_num] [--ishaangle real_num] [--fa-
jrangle real_num] [--dst int_num] [--dst-start yyyymmdd] [--dst-end
yyyymmdd] [--round int_num] [--extreme int_num] [--sea-level int_num]
[--month [int_num]] [--year [int_num]] [--file pref_file] [--end]
[--brief] [--help]
DESCRIPTION
ipraytime is a generator of Islamic prayer times for any given location.
It is capable of generating daily, monthly, and yearly schedules based
on user specified settings. In its single day output format, it can cal-
culate the appropriate Qibla direction (heading towards the Kabaa) and
Imsaak time (the time when one is to start fasting). ipraytime also has
a minimalistic option to show a brief one-liner showing prayer times for
a single day.
ipraytime is configured using a file in the user's home directory
(~/.iprayrc). For configuration and usage samples, see the EXAMPLES sec-
tion below. It is also possible to specify settings using an environment
variable (IPT_DATA) or through passing arguments to the command line
(which takes precedent over all other settings). If none of the above is
found, ipraytime defaults to using Makkah's location with the host ma-
chine's current date settings.
OPTIONS
A summary of all command-line arguments and configuration options are
noted below:
-h, --help
Show summary of options.
-d, --date yyyymmdd
Specify the Gregorian date to use where `y' stands for year, `m'
for month and `d' for day.
-lat, --latitude real_num
Specify the latitude setting to use during calculations. The
value could be any real number.
-lon, --longitude real_num
Specify the longitude setting to use during calculations. The
value could be any real number.
-sea, --sea-level real_num
Specify height above Sea level (in meters).
-u, --utcdiff real_num
Specify the difference between the specified timezone and that of
GMT/UTC. The value could be any real number.
-a, --anglemethod [int_num]
Specify which angle method calculation to use. The angle methods
that are currently supported by ipraytime are,
1 Egyptian General Authority of Survey
Fajr/Isha Angle : 20/18
Used in : Africa, Indonesia, Iraq,
Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia,
Singapore, Syria,
Parts of the USA
2 University of Islamic Sciences, Karachi (Shaf'i)
Fajr/Isha Angle : 18/18
Used in : Iran, Kuwait,
Parts of Europe
3 University of Islamic Sciences, Karachi (Hanafi)
Fajr/Isha Angle : 18/18
Used in : Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
India
4 Islamic Society of North America
Fajr/Isha Angle : 15/15
Used in : Canada, Parts of UK,
Parts of USA
5 Muslim World League (MWL)
Fajr/Isha Angle : 18/17
Used in : Parts of Europe,
Far East, Parts of USA
6 Umm Al-Qurra University
Fajr/Isha Angl e : 19/0
Isha Interval : 90 minutes from Al-Maghrib
prayer but set to 120
during Ramadan.
Used in : Saudi Arabia
7 Fixed Isha Angle Interval (always 90)
Fajr/Isha Angle : 19.5/0
Isha Interval : 90 minutes from Al-Maghrib
prayer
Used in : Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, UAE
8 Egyptian General Authority of Survey (Egypt)
Fajr/Isha Angle : 19.5/17.5
Used in : Egypt
9 Om Al-Qurra University (Ramadan)
Fajr/Isha Angle : 19/0
Isha Interval : 120 minutes from Al-Maghrib
prayer
Used in : Saudi Arabia (during Ramadan)
10 Moonsighting Committee Worldwide (MWC)
Fajr/Isha Angle : 18/18 (used for comparison)
Fajr and Isha calculated with different values based on
the season
Used in : parts of the United States, parts of
the UK
11 Morocco Awqaf Ministry
Fajr/Isha Angle : 19/17
Zuhr Offset : 5 min
Maghrib Offset : 5 min
Used in : Morocco
-fa, --fajrangle [real_num]
Specify which angle to use for Fajr. Will override the one set by
the --anglemethod.
-ia, --ishaangle [real_num]
Specify which angle to use for Isha. Will override the one set by
the --anglemethod.
-s, --dst [int_num]
By default, ipraytime uses the host's machine timezone informa-
tion to determine whether daylight saving time is in effect or
not. If this information is unavailable or not accurate, this op-
tion provides the means to explicitly set the DST status. Set
this to 0 to completely disable daylight saving time. Set it to 1
to always add one hour to the computed prayer times.
-ss, --dst-start yyyymmdd
-se, --dst-end yyyymmdd
Specify a range of dates where day light saving time is in effect
for your location. For example:
ipraytime --dst-start 20040328 --dst-end 20041029
-m, --month [int_num]
Specify to print either current month's schedule or the passed-in
value's month schedule.
-y, --year [int_num]
Specify to print either current year's schedule or the passed-in
value's year schedule.
-f, --file pref_file
Specify filename to load which contains user's settings and pref-
erences.
-e, --end
Specify to continue with schedule printing until the end of spec-
ified month.
-b, --brief
Specify to print a brief one-liner output for single day mode.
-h12, --regular-hour
Display the prayer times in regular time instead of military
time.
-r, --round [int_num]
Specify a method for rounding seconds. The supported methods are,
0 No Rounding. Completely ignore the computed seconds value.
1 Regular Rounding. If seconds are equal to 30 or above, add 1
minute.
2 Special Rounding. Similar to regular rounding but we always
round down for Shurooq and Imsaak times. (This is the de-
fault method).
3 Aggressive Rounding. Similar to Special Rounding but we add
1 minute if the seconds value are equal to 1 second or more.
-x, --extreme [int_num]
Specify a method for prayer times calculations at high (49+) or
extreme (66+) latitudes. Prayer times calculations relies heavily
on astronomical events. At these latitudes some of those events
do not occur at all, or are impossible to precisely calculate us-
ing conventional means. For example, at certain locations the sun
never moves below the horizon to the position of the amount of
Fajr angle degrees specified, therefore there will be no real
Fajr time at that location. The supported extreme methods are:
Note: Methods that have the If Invalid keyword are applied only
when ipraytime is unable to calculate these times. Methods that
have the Always keyword are applied always.
0 None. If unable to calculate, leave as 99:99
1 Nearest Latitude (Aqrab Al-Bilaad): All prayers [Always]
2 Nearest Latitude (Aqrab Al-Bilaad): Fajr and Isha [Always]
3 Nearest Latitude (Aqrab Al-Bilaad): All prayers [If In-
valid]
4 Nearest Good Day (Aqrab Al-Ayyam): All prayers [Always]
5 Nearest Good Day (Aqrab Al-Ayyam): All prayers [If Invalid]
(This is the default method)
Note: All the extreme methods following below do not have a
proof in traditional Shari'a (Fiqh) resources. These methods
were introduced by modern day Muslim scholars and scientists for
practical reasons only.
6 Seventh of Night: Fajr and Isha [Always]
7 Seventh of Night: Fajr and Isha [If Invalid]
8 Seventh of Day: Fajr and Isha [Always]
9 Seventh of Day: Fajr and Isha [If Invalid]
10 Half of the Night: Fajr and Isha [Always]
11 Half of the Night: Fajr and Isha [If Invalid]
Note: To use the next two methods, you will need to specify Fa-
jrInterval and IshaInterval in your configuration file.
12 Minutes from Shorooq/Maghrib: Fajr and Isha [Always]
13 Minutes from Shorooq/Maghrib: Fajr and Isha [If invalid]
14 Nearest Good Day: Fajr and Ishaa if either is invalid
15 Angle based: Fajr and Ishaa if invalid
CONFIGURATION
ipraytime is capable of loading settings from a configuration file
(~/.iprayrc). The default location of the configuration file can be
changed using the --file option. The content of the file should be in
the following syntax `variable_string: value'. See the EXAMPLES section
for usage examples. Below is a list of all the supported settings which
can be used in the configuration file:
Location Settings
City
Specifies an informational city name string to be displayed for refer-
ence.
Latitude
Specify the latitude setting to use during calculations. The value
could be any real number.
Longitude
Specify the longitude setting to use during calculations. The value
could be any real number.
UTC
Specify the difference between the specified timezone and that of
GMT/UTC. The value could be any real number.
SeaLevel
Specify height above Sea level (in meters).
Pressure
Specify the atmospheric pressure in millibars. The default value is
1010.
Temperature
Specify the temperature in Celsius degree. The default value is 10.
Calculation Method Settings
AngleMethod
Specify which angle method calculation to use. The value needs to be
a positive integer of one of the supported methods. See the --an-
glemethod option for more information.
Mathhab
Specify which mathhab to use in one's calculations. The current sup-
ported value are 1 for Shaf'i and 2 for Hanafi.
OffsetList
Specify a list of values in minutes to add or subtract any amount of
minutes from the daily computed prayer times. For example, If you want
to add 30 seconds to Maghrib and subtract 2 minutes from Isha, you
will set this option to `0 0 0 0 0.5 -2'.
FajrAngle
Specify the fajr angle to use during calculations. Will override the
values of the specified method.
IshaAngle
Specify the isha angle to use during calculations. Will override the
values of the specified method.
ImsaakAngle
Specify imsaak and fajr angle difference. The default value is 1.5 de-
grees.
FajrInterval
Specify the number of minutes between fajr and shorooq. This should be
a positive integer.
IshaInterval
Specify the number of minutes between Isha and Maghrib. This should be
a positive integer.
ImsaakInterval
Specify a difference in minutes between imsaak and fajr. The default
Imsaak interval from fajr is 10 minutes if the FajrInterval is set.
ExtremeMethod
Specify which method to use for high and extreme latitudes. The value
needs to be an integer of one of the supported extreme methods. See
descriptions of the --extreme option for a list of the supported meth-
ods.
NearestLatitude
Specify the latitude Used for the `Nearest Latitude' extreme methods.
The default is at 48.5 degrees.
RoundMethod
Specify which method to use for rounding seconds. The value needs to
be an integer of one of the supported rounding methods. See the
--round option for a list of the supported methods.
Daylight Saving Time Settings
By default, ipraytime uses the host's machine timezone information to
determine whether daylight saving time is in effect or not. If this in-
formation is unavailable or not accurate, these options provide the
means to explicitly set the DST status.
DST
Specify the current DST status. Set this to 0 to completely disable
daylight saving time. Set it to 1 to always add one hour to the com-
puted prayer times.
DST-Start
Specify the start date when daylight saving time adjustment is in ef-
fect for your location. This value should be a valid date in yyyymmdd
form.
DST-End
Specify the date when daylight saving time adjustment period ends.
This value should be a valid date in yyyymmdd form.
Display Settings
HourFormat
Specify a time format for displaying the prayer times. The value
should be 12 (regular time) or 24 (military time).
ENVIRONMENT
IPT_DATA One means to pass-in the various required settings is via this
variable. The format of the variable needs to be "Location-
Name Latitude Longitude UTCdiff AngleMethodNumber". For in-
stance,
setenv IPT_DATA "Dubai 25.25 55.3 4 2"
FILES
~/.iprayrc User configuration file.
EXAMPLES
A sample (~/.iprayrc) showing how options are set:
City: Brussels, Belguim
Latitude: 50.8333
Longitude: 4.3333
UTC: 1
AngleMethod: 2
Mathhab: 1
OffsetList: 0 0 1 2.21 3 -1
Examples of using the command-line options:
ipraytime -y 2007
ipraytime -f /home/user/.iprayrc-Oman
ipraytime -lat 29.5000 -lon 47.7500 -u 3 --anglemethod 2 -d 20071229 -h12
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs on the web using http://bugs.arabeyes.org
AUTHORS
Written by Nadim Shaikli and Thamer Mahmoud. Part of the Arabeyes.org
project.
COPYRIGHT
ipraytime is subject to the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Copyright © 2005, Arabeyes, Nadim Shaikli.
Copyright © 2005-2010 Thamer Mahmoud
SEE ALSO
ireminder(1) - Prayer time reminder script that uses ipraytime.
The ITL library (libitl) from the Islamic Tools and Libraries project.
It is the underlying requirement for ipraytime to function. The ITL li-
brary was created and is hosted at www.arabeyes.org.
ipraytime May 1, 2010 IPRAYTIME(1)
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