How do I pray in places where the sun never sets?
You still pray five times a day, but you estimate the prayer times instead of waiting for a sunset that never comes. Most scholars say to follow the timings of the nearest place that has a normal day and night, or to space the prayers out in a reasonable 24-hour pattern. Local mosque timetables usually do this for you.
Where this happens
North of the Arctic Circle, in places like Tromsø, Lapland, Svalbard, northern Iceland or northern Alaska, the sun stays up for weeks in summer (the "midnight sun") and stays down for weeks in winter (polar night). Travelers on summer trips to Norway or Finland meet this quite quickly. Further south, in the UK, Scandinavia's southern cities and Canada, the sun does set, but the sky may never get fully dark, which affects Isha and Fajr.
The basis: estimate the times
When the Prophet ﷺ spoke about a future day that would last as long as a year, the Companions asked whether one day's prayers would be enough. He said no, and told them to estimate its measure (Sahih Muslim 2937). Scholars built the rule for polar regions on this: the prayers don't disappear, you calculate them. Islam never asks more than a person can do:
The main methods
- Nearest normal place: use the prayer times of the nearest city or latitude where the sun rises and sets each day. This is the view of most fiqh councils, including the Muslim World League's Islamic Fiqh Council.
- Makkah or a middle latitude: some scholars allow following Makkah's times, or a moderate latitude such as 45°.
- Where the sun sets but twilight lingers: pray Maghrib at sunset and use an estimation rule for Isha and Fajr (such as one-seventh of the night or the "middle of the night" method). Some scholars also allow combining Maghrib and Isha in these weeks.
The same principles are used for fasting. See How do Muslims fast in a Nordic summer?
What to do as a traveler
If you're visiting, you are probably a traveler anyway, so you can shorten Dhuhr, Asr and Isha and combine prayers. Choose one method, set it in your prayer app (many apps have a "high latitude" setting), and stay consistent. If there's a local mosque, simply follow its timetable. For how combining works, see How do I combine Dhuhr and Asr when traveling?
- All five prayers still apply under the midnight sun.
- Times are estimated, based on Sahih Muslim 2937.
- Most councils use the nearest place with a normal day.
- Pick one method, use your app's high-latitude setting, and stay consistent.
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