Between the towers, prayer comes first.

Islam in Hong Kong

A community as old as the harbour city

Muslims have been part of Hong Kong since its first years as a port: seamen, traders and soldiers, many from the Indian subcontinent, gathered for prayer here from the 1840s. The Jamia Mosque on Shelley Street in Mid-Levels, the oldest, was built in 1849 and rebuilt in 1915, and is a Grade 1 historic building. On Nathan Road, Muslim soldiers of the Hong Kong Regiment built the first mosque in Kowloon in 1896; the white-marble Kowloon Mosque and Islamic Centre opened in its place in 1984 and holds 3,500 worshippers.

The Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong, which coordinates Islamic activities in Hong Kong, put the Muslim community at about 300,000. The Trustees manage five mosques (the Jamia Mosque, the Kowloon Mosque, Masjid Ammar in Wan Chai, the Chai Wan Mosque at Cape Collinson and the Stanley Mosque) and two cemeteries, and they announce the dates of Ramadan and the Eids. The Chinese Muslim Cultural and Fraternal Association, founded in 1917, runs a secondary school, two primary schools and two kindergartens.

The community is varied: Chinese Muslims, families with roots in South Asia who have lived here for generations, and many newer arrivals, among them domestic workers from Indonesia, about 164,000 of whom were working in Hong Kong at the end of 2025.

Prayer times

Prayer times in Hong Kong: what to choose

The prayer times on the Incorporated Trustees' website put both Fajr and Isha at 18° and Asr at the Hanafi time. In Awwab that is Univ. of Islamic Sciences (Karachi) (18°/18°) with Hanafi for Asr: on every date we compared, between December 2024 and October 2026, Fajr, Asr and Isha came within a minute of the Trustees' times.

Choose both once in Settings: Awwab starts on the Egyptian method and does not switch by region. Then keep these differences in mind:

• Dhuhr: the Trustees' site lists Dhuhr at 1:15 pm all year, which is the congregation time. Dhuhr itself begins between about 12:05 and 12:40, and that is when the app's lock starts.
• Maghrib is calculated at sunset. The Trustees' Maghrib is two to four minutes later, so the lock can start a little before the adhan.
• Asr: if you follow the Shafi'i, Maliki or Hanbali school, choose it, or I'm not sure. Asr then begins when a shadow equals the object's height, about 45 to 80 minutes earlier than the Hanafi time in Hong Kong.
• Jumu'ah: on Fridays the app shows Jumu'ah in place of Dhuhr.

Adhan and congregation

The lock starts with the prayer time, not the congregation

Awwab's lock begins the moment the prayer time begins. If you pray a little later, in congregation at the mosque or between meetings and errands, the apps you chose simply wait until you've prayed and marked it. If you truly need one first, a short snooze opens them for the time you set, from 1 to 30 minutes.

Across the year, Fajr begins between about 4:15 and 5:45 am and Isha between about 7:00 and 8:40 pm. From Hong Kong the Qibla lies a little north of west, about 285° from true north. Steel and electronics in tall buildings can disturb a phone's compass, so hold the phone flat and away from metal when you check it.

Ramadan and the Eids

The moon and the dates

In Hong Kong the Incorporated Trustees announce the start of Ramadan and the days of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. In Ramadan the Kowloon Mosque serves iftar every day to around 2,000 to 2,500 fasting guests.

Awwab reminds you of Ramadan, the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah, the Day of Arafah, both Eids, Ashura and the White Days. These dates follow the calculated Umm al-Qura calendar and can differ from Hong Kong's announcement by a day, so follow the Trustees and your mosque for fasting and Eid. The five daily prayer times are not affected.

Awwab has no imsak time yet: Fajr and Maghrib in the app mark the end of suhoor and the time to break the fast. For imsak, use your mosque's timetable.

Free and private

No paywall, no ads, no tracking

Every feature is free. There is an optional supporter subscription for people who want to help the work continue; it unlocks nothing extra.

There is no account and no sign-in. The app shows no ads and has no analytics or tracking. Your prayers and settings live in your own private iCloud, and we never receive them.