Times of Salaah

Time of Esha Salaah

Q: Nowadays we use a prayer time chart but we hear from Darul Uloom Deobond that this is not accurate and they quote a hadith that for calculating the time of Esha salah we have to calculate the time difference between the rising and setting of the moon in every 3rd day of the current lunar month. Suppose the difference is 1 hr 47 minute then Esha will be 1 hr 47 minuets after Magrib for the same complete month and the process will continue. What is the truth?

Salaah while travelling on an aeroplane

Q: I have a question regarding a person travelling through different time zones? How does one go about determining what Salaah to perform when if they are travelling from one time zone to another? For example a person intends to travel from New York city to India. A person travelling from New York city to India or a surrounding country will have lost a day in this journey. I am writing a more clear example related to my question, please kindly advise me.

I board the airplane after performing Esha salaah in New York city, it will travel via Dubia to India. When I arrive to Dubia/India, I will have lost a day. My questions are as follows:

  1. Whilst the plane is in the air, what salaah do I perform (bear in mind that I performed my esha before boarding in New York city)?
  2. How do I calculate the salaah times since the plane will be travelling over different countries and time zones?
  3. Can a person perform salaah whilst they are seated in their seats even though they have ability and facility to perform it in normal position in the plane?

Any other clarification or explanation or additional information will be appreciated concerning this question.

Esha time in Chicago

Q: What is the mas'alah regarding Isha Salaah in the city of Chicago U.S.A. According to the Salaah timings calendar there are 2 timings for Isha Salaah i.e. Isha 1 & Isha 2 (the time difference between them is about 30 mins). Isha 1 corresponds to the disappearance of shafaq-Ahmar (15 degrees) and Isha 2 corresponds to the disappearance of shafaq-abyadh (18 degrees). At the moment the masaajids mostly follow Isha 2 due to "ihtiyaat". But the place where I will be performing taraweeh, if we follow Isha 2 then we will be finishing our taraaweeh around midnight (due to Isha 2 starting around 10:40pm). It will be quite difficult for the musallees due to sehri ending around 3:15am. The person in charge left it up to me to decide whether to follow Isha 1 or  Isha 2, but they will be pleased  if I follow Isha 1. What is the best thing for me to do?