Why three prayer times, not five?

Shia Muslims pray five daily prayers, the same five as every other Muslim. What differs is when they are performed together.

In Ja’fari fiqh, Zuhr and Asr share a time period, and Maghrib and Isha share a time period. Praying the two of a pair one after the other is permitted without needing a reason — no travel, no rain, no illness. So a centre publishes three congregation times rather than five:

• Fajr — the dawn prayer, on its own.
• Zuhrayn — Zuhr followed by Asr.
• Maghribayn — Maghrib followed by Isha.

Five prayers are still prayed. They are simply gathered into three sittings, which is why the board outside the prayer hall lists three times.

Two other things you may notice

Maghrib is not sunset. The Maghrib prayer begins a little after the sun goes down — once the redness in the eastern sky has passed overhead, roughly a quarter of an hour at this latitude. That is why our timetable lists Sunset and Maghrib as two separate rows, and why, in Ramadan, we break the fast at Maghrib rather than at sunset.

There is a midnight on the timetable. Islamic (shar’i) midnight is the midpoint between sunset and the next dawn — usually around 11:20pm here, not 12:00am. It matters because it is when the time for Isha ends.