Last third of the night calculator
When does the last third of the night begin tonight?
Enter tonight’s sunset and tomorrow’s Fajr from your mosque’s timetable. The calculator divides the night between them into three and shows where the last third begins. The times are yours; it only does the arithmetic.
Counted from sunset to Fajr · Nothing you enter leaves this page
Tonight
Use the times from your mosque or the timetable you follow.
Check the order: the first time is this evening’s sunset, the second is tomorrow morning’s Fajr.
Enter both times to see when the last third begins.
- Night
- Each third
How the last third is counted
Three steps. Only the first is a question scholars have answered in more than one way, so it comes with its source.
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The night runs from sunset to Fajr
From sunset to the true dawn, not to sunrise. This is the count of the Maliki school, Ibn Uthaymeen and the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta’, and IslamQA answer 362908 prefers it. Others count to sunrise; the questions below say who.
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Divide it into three
In the Permanent Committee’s words, the third of the night is known “by dividing its hours from sunset to the rise of Fajr by three”. In winter the night is long and so is each third; in summer both shrink.
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The last third ends at Fajr
It begins two thirds of the way through the night and runs until Fajr, where the night ends in this count.
An example: sunset at 6:00 pm and Fajr at 5:00 am make a night of 11 hours. Each third lasts 3 hours and 40 minutes, so the last third begins at 1:20 am and ends at 5:00 am.
Why the last third
The Prophet ﷺ said:
يَنْزِلُ رَبُّنَا تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى كُلَّ لَيْلَةٍ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ الدُّنْيَا حِينَ يَبْقَى ثُلُثُ اللَّيْلِ الآخِرُ يَقُولُ مَنْ يَدْعُونِي فَأَسْتَجِيبَ لَهُ مَنْ يَسْأَلُنِي فَأُعْطِيَهُ مَنْ يَسْتَغْفِرُنِي فَأَغْفِرَ لَهُ
“Our Lord, the Blessed, the Superior, comes every night down on the nearest Heaven to us when the last third of the night remains, saying: ‘Is there anyone to invoke Me, so that I may respond to invocation? Is there anyone to ask Me, so that I may grant him his request? Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness, so that I may forgive him?’”
What rising for it costs in sleep, and how to plan for that: Qiyam al-Layl and Tahajjud. How to pray in it, and how much, are questions for your mosque or a scholar you trust.
Questions about the last third
When does the last third of the night begin?
Two thirds of the way from sunset to Fajr. Take the time between tonight’s sunset and tomorrow’s Fajr, divide it by three, and go back one third from Fajr. With sunset at 6:00 pm and Fajr at 5:00 am, the last third begins at 1:20 am.
Is the night counted from Isha or from sunset?
From sunset. Both views that IslamQA answer 362908 sets out begin the night at sunset; they differ only on where it ends.
Does the night end at Fajr or at sunrise?
Scholars hold both views, and IslamQA answer 362908 sets them out. Counting to sunrise is the view of the astronomers; Ibn Taymiyyah used it for the middle of the night, and a group of Hanbali scholars followed him. Counting to the true dawn is the view of the Maliki school, apparently also of the Shafi’i school, Ibn Uthaymeen’s choice and the Permanent Committee’s fatwa, and IslamQA prefers it. For the hadith about the last third, Ibn Taymiyyah himself suggested that it means the night that ends at Fajr. This calculator counts to Fajr, like the WakeYa app. If your community counts differently, ask your mosque.
What time is Tahajjud?
The hadith above names the time when the last third of the night remains, and this calculator finds it for your times. When the night prayer may be prayed, and how, are questions of fiqh for your mosque or a scholar you trust. If you plan to rise for it, set your alarm a few minutes before the time shown.
Why is the time different every night?
Because the night is. Sunset and Fajr move with the seasons, and the further you live from the equator, the more they move. Enter tonight’s times whenever you check.
My timetable lists Maghrib, not sunset. Which do I enter?
Maghrib. In most timetables it is the time of sunset, or a few minutes after it as a precaution. A sunset three minutes later moves the start of the last third by one minute, which makes no difference to an alarm. If your timetable lists sunset separately, that is the more exact choice.
Is anything I enter sent to WakeYa?
No. The calculation runs in your browser, and nothing you enter is sent anywhere. The page’s security policy does not even allow its scripts to open a connection.
Sources
- IslamQA, answer 362908 (in Arabic)هل الليل من غروب الشمس إلى طلوعها أم إلى طلوع الفجر؟Does the night run from sunset to sunrise, or to Fajr? Sets out both views with their scholars, quotes the Permanent Committee (Fatawa al-Lajnah al-Da’imah 24/202) and Ibn Taymiyyah, and prefers counting to Fajr.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1145Arabic text and English translation as published on sunnah.com.
WakeYa shows it every night
With the Islamic features on, the prayer card shows the last third under Isha, counted the same way, from sunset to Fajr, for the place you chose and fully offline. The quiet wake-up wakes you with a soft tone and vibration instead of a voice, so you can rise without waking the house, and it only stops once you have proven you are up.
