Timing of prayer

Question

Asalaamu Alaykum, so I wanted to ask if I’m praying Salah at home and I’m following a timetable and say the beginning time of Asr starts at 2:00pm and the adhan in the mosque is at 2:20, should I wait for the adhan to begin praying or can I start praying at the start time for the prayer which is at 2:00pm?

Also, if I live in a western country where the adhan isn’t recited aloud in most mosques and I’m praying at home or at work on my own, do I have to recite the adhan and iqamah or is the iqamah itself sufficient?

Answer 1

Wa'alaikum assalam brother,

As per islam, as soon as time of prayer starts, say at 2:00pm, then you can pray. its a big mis-conception that start of prayer starts from Adhan. its not like that, Whether there is adhan or not, you can pray salah as soon as time starts.

Adhan in most cases is done for 2 reasons:

• Come to pray in majid, as there will be Jamaat after 10-20 mins
• Start time of that prayer has started (but in this case if time already has started and you cannot or dont want to goto mosque, then you can pray, without waiting for adhan)

As you are in west, so you can set your location for salah calculator application, and check your salah timing and you can pray as soon as time starts.

Hope that answers your question.