Answered by Shaykh Hamza Karamali, SunniPath Academy Teacher
I have a question about the sun setting for maghrib prayer. If one lives at a place where there is a tall mountain in front of the house and one’s sees the sun setting in the mountain, can one start praying maghrib? Can one take the mountain as the horizon?
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
assalamu `alaykum wa rahmatullah
Scholars explain that what counts is the sun’s setting on the actual horizon that appears when the terrain is flat. If one lives in valley, for example, the sun will disappear from sight earlier than this time because the mountains will block it from one’s sight. The actual maghrib time, however, still enters when the sun disappears below the actual horizon.
The way to determine this time is either to get an unobstructed view of the sun (by going around the mountain or by climbing it), or to use a reliable prayer time calendar that correctly calculates the time of actual sunset according to one’s geographical location.
And Allah Most High knows best.
Hamza.