ipraytime1

Usage

Overview

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 calculate 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 section 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 machine'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 information to determine whether daylight saving time is in effect or not. If this information is unavailable or not accurate, this option 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:

-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 preferences.

-e, --end

Specify to continue with schedule printing until the end of specified 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 default 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 using 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 Invalid]

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 FajrInterval 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:

Environment

IPT_DATA

One means to pass-in the various required settings is via this variable. The format of the variable needs to be "LocationName Latitude Longitude UTCdiff AngleMethodNumber". For instance,

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