PRAYTIMER(1)        UNIX Programmer's Manual         PRAYTIMER(1)


NNAAMMEE
     praytimer - produce Islamic prayer time schedules in TeX
     input form

SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
     pprraayyttiimmeerr [--ii] [--ff fiqh] [--rr ratio] [--aa angle] [--tt time]

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
     _p_r_a_y_t_i_m_e_r generates pleasant looking prayer time schedules
     for any location.  The schedules can be "perpetual" or for
     any desired year.  The program allows for _f_i_q_h_i variations
     in computing methods.

     _p_r_a_y_t_i_m_e_r reads from standard input the geographical data
     about the locations, and writes to standard output the TeX
     code for the schedules.

     The following command line options affect the method of com-
     putation.

     --ff _f_i_q_h  Fiqh should be S(hafi'i) or H(anafi).  Sets the
              shadow ratio for determining 'Asr to 1 or 2,
              respectively.  Default value is Shafi'i.

     --rr _r_a_t_i_o Specifies the value of the 'Asr shadow ratio expli-
              citly. Default value is 1.

     --aa _a_n_g_l_e Specifies Sun's angle of depression at Fajr in
              degrees.  Common values are 18 (for Fajr to be the
              same as the astronomical twilight) or 15 (a bit
              later).  Default value is 15.

     --tt _t_i_m_e  Specifies the time interval from Fajr to sunrise in
              minutes.  A common value used is 90 minutes.  This
              method is sometimes used in high-latitude locations
              where times for the usual values of Sun's depres-
              sion are either undefined or are impractical.

     --ii       Interactive input of geographical data. Instead of
              reading these from standard input, _p_r_a_y_t_i_m_e_r
              prompts the user at the terminal (stderr).

     Note: 'Isha is computed symmetrically with respect to Fajr,
     with whichever method is chosen and whatever parameter value
     is specified. It is an error to specify both --aa and --tt or
     both --ff and --rr at the same time.

IINNPPUUTT DDAATTAA
     Data on standard input must contain (in given order):

          Name of location (upto 30 characters)

          Latitude degrees and minutes, and N or S to specify
          north or south.


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PRAYTIMER(1)        UNIX Programmer's Manual         PRAYTIMER(1)


          Longitude degrees and minutes, and E or W to specify
          east or west.

          Time Zone in hours (Decimal for fractional hour zones,
          negative if West of Greenwich).

          Y or 1 if Daylight Saving Time adjustment needed.  N or
          0, otherwise.

          Year in the range 1900-2200, or 0 for a perpetual
          schedule.

     The zero value doesn't mean that the year is zero BC or AD,
     but is a special value to cause _p_r_a_y_t_i_m_e_r to prepare a per-
     petual calendar in which the times are essentially the aver-
     age for the four years of a leap cycle.  The yearly varia-
     tion in prayer times is seldom more than two minutes, and
     the times return back to almost the same value every four
     years.  It thus makes little sense to print a new timetable
     every year.

     Data items should be separated by whitespace, but the name
     must be on a separate line by itself because it may contain
     spaces or punctuation.  Input may contain data for more than
     one location; the tables will be concatenated on the output.

EEXXAAMMPPLLEESS
     The following command sequence on a Unix system produces a
     file _d_c._t_e_x containing the TeX input code for a perpetual
     prayer schedule for Washington, DC, using the Sun's depres-
     sion angle of 15 degrees to define Fajr and a shadow ratio
     of 1 to define 'Asr.  (Since these are default values, they
     need not have been included.)  The schedule includes adjust-
     ment for Daylight Saving Time.

          cat > dc.dta
          Washington, DC
          38 54 N 77 1 W -5 Y 1
          0
          ^D
          praytimer -a 15 -r 1 < dc.dta > dc.tex

AAUUTTHHOORR
     Kamal Abdali has derived this code from his _M_i_n_a_r_e_t program
     for the Macintosh.

BBUUGGSS
     Support for the Jaafari fiqh should be added.


Printed 2/4/92           19 January 1992                        2