My biggest cultural shock in Obimanso so far was when I realized that the prayer (Salat) times I’ve known all my life are not universal.
From birth to Jakpa, I’ve known:
Fajr prayer time to be around 4am – 5am
Sunrise prayer (Waduha) to be around 9am
Duhr to be around 1pm
Asr to be around 3pm
Maghrib to be around 6:30pm
And Isha to be around 7:30pm
This is the current prayer time in Leeds:
Fajr is 2:37am
Maghrib is 9:35pm
And Isha is 11:39pm
And I am told there might even be a time when we will have to pray Maghrib around 11pm and Isha around 12am.
A friend told me that what they do is pray Maghrib, wait and pray Isha, then wait and pray Fajr before going to sleep.
It was quite a shock to me to see that by 9:30pm the SUN will be up there in the sky. Then it will set around 10pm and by 2:30am it is back up again:
How does a Muslim balance their Prayer, Work, and Sleep in such a situation?
The world is not as you think