Prayer Times Chicago, IL Today

How Prayer Times in Chicago Change Through the Year

The sun runs Chicago's prayer clock, and it never keeps the same hours for long. Fajr reaches its earliest point of 2026 on 15 Jun 2026, at 3:31 AM, and its latest on 31 Oct 2026, at 6:04 AM: a swing of 2 hours 33 minutes between the two. A timetable printed in winter is out of date by summer. The swing is wide because Chicago sits at 41.9 degrees north, far enough from the equator for the seasons to move the sun's path a long way.

Sunset moves even further. Maghrib in Chicago is earliest on 05 Dec 2026 at 4:19 PM and latest on 23 Jun 2026 at 8:30 PM, a shift of 4 hours 11 minutes. On the longest day of the year, 21 Jun 2026, the sun sets at 8:29 PM; on the shortest day, 21 Dec 2026, it sets at 4:23 PM.

Anyone who keeps the voluntary fasts, on Mondays and Thursdays or the white days of each month, feels the range most. The longest fast of 2026 in Chicago runs 16 hours 58 minutes, on 18 Jun 2026, from a Fajr of 3:31 AM to a Maghrib of 8:29 PM; the shortest is just 10 hours 32 minutes on 17 Dec 2026. Measured against the other 218 cities and neighbourhoods we track, only 35 have a longer longest fast, which puts Chicago in the longest-fast quarter of the country. Solar noon drifts as well: Dhuhr moves between 11:34 AM and 1:01 PM across the year, following the equation of time.

How Each Prayer Time Is Calculated in Chicago

Prayer times follow the sun, so they shift a little every day. For Chicago, this page uses the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) method, the one most US mosques follow: a 15-degree sun angle for Fajr and Isha, the standard shadow rule for Asr, and the Hanafi Asr available in the method selector. Today, 03 Nov 2026, is 23 Jumādá al-ūlá 1448 on the Hijri calendar.

Fajr (5:07 AM today)

True dawn, the first white light spreading sideways along the eastern horizon, opens the Fajr window. In Chicago today that moment is 5:07 AM. The window shuts at sunrise (6:26 AM); a Fajr prayed after that is qada, a missed prayer made up later. Because dawn in Chicago swings between 3:31 AM and 6:04 AM over the year, a fixed alarm time never works for long.

Dhuhr (11:34 AM today)

Dhuhr starts once the sun has crossed its peak and begun to decline. Solar noon is not the same as 12:00 on the clock, because Chicago sits within the America/Chicago zone, away from its central meridian: today Dhuhr in Chicago is 11:34 AM. On Fridays the Jummah congregation takes the place of Dhuhr.

Asr (2:20 PM today)

Asr begins when an object's shadow equals its height beyond the noon shadow. That standard rule (Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali) gives 2:20 PM in Chicago today. The Hanafi rule waits until the shadow is twice the height, which falls roughly 45 to 65 minutes later; use the calculation method selector at the top of this page to view Hanafi Asr. Finish Asr before the sun turns yellow and weak near the horizon.

Maghrib (4:42 PM today)

Maghrib's window opens at sunset, the instant the sun's disc drops fully out of sight: 4:42 PM today in Chicago. For someone fasting, this is iftar, and the Sunnah is to break the fast at once, with dates or water, before praying.

Isha (6:01 PM today) and the Last Third of the Night

When the red twilight has gone from the west, Isha begins: 6:01 PM tonight in Chicago. The night that follows is measured from Maghrib to Fajr; its last third, after Islamic midnight, is the Tahajjud time. Use the Tahajjud calculator to find tonight's last third in Chicago.

Friday Jummah and Mosques in Chicago, Illinois

Jummah, the Friday congregational prayer, replaces Dhuhr every week and is the largest regular gathering of Muslims in Chicago. 6 mosques and Islamic centers in Chicago are listed below with their addresses, including Downtown Islamic Center at 231 S. State Street, Chicago, IL 60604. Downtown Islamic Center publishes a Jummah time of Khutbah 1:10 PM. Other mosques set their own khutbah times, so confirm before you travel.

Beyond Friday, expect daily congregational prayers, children's Quran classes and taraweeh in Ramadan at these centers. Mosque not listed? Send us the details and we will add it with its address and Jummah time.

Finding the Qibla Direction in Chicago (48.67° North-East)

Muslims pray facing the Kaaba in Mecca, and from Chicago that means facing 48.67° north-east from true north, measured the short way around the globe. The bearing comes from Chicago's position (41.9° N, 87.6° W) set against the Kaaba's (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E). Along that bearing, the Kaaba is about 6926 miles (11146 km) from Chicago in a straight line over the Earth's curved surface. It surprises many people that the direction is north-east rather than south-east: from North America, the shortest line to Mecca crosses the North Atlantic, not the Pacific.

At home or at work in Chicago, the Qibla Compass on your phone reads the bearing directly. Calibrate it with a slow figure-eight motion, and keep it clear of metal furniture and electronics that drag the needle. Inside a mosque, the mihrab already marks the direction.

Daylight Saving Time in Illinois: The Two Jump Days

Twice a year in Chicago, the clock moves and every prayer time jumps with it. When daylight saving time begins on 08 Mar 2026, Fajr moves from 4:59 AM to 5:58 AM in a single night, a shift of just under an hour, and Maghrib moves from 5:48 PM to 6:49 PM. When standard time returns on 01 Nov 2026, Fajr moves from 6:04 AM back to 5:05 AM, and sunset prayers come an hour earlier in the evening. Every time on this page already follows the America/Chicago clock in force on that date, so no manual adjustment is ever needed.

Daily Adhkar and Duas for Chicago

Complete the prayers with the authentic supplications: the dua after adhan, dua after wudu, the 33-times tasbih after each prayer, and duas for hardship and gratitude. Read them in our dua library with Arabic text, transliteration and translation.