What are the prayer times at the Koutoubia Mosque?

The Koutoubia is Marrakech's great working mosque, in the south-west of the medina near Jemaa el-Fnaa, and like every mosque in Morocco it follows the five daily prayers of Islam: Fajr before dawn, Dhuhr around midday, Asr in the late afternoon, Maghrib just after sunset and Isha at night. On Fridays the midday prayer is replaced by the congregational Friday prayer, the busiest of the week.

There is no fixed timetable to quote, because the prayer times are set by the position of the sun and shift a little every day. Over a year they move by a lot: Maghrib follows sunset, which comes much earlier in December than in June, and Morocco stays on GMT all year, so there is no clock change to make the times jump. The reliable way to know today's times in Marrakech is a prayer-times app or website set to the city, or simply to ask at your riad; the call to prayer (adhan) from the Koutoubia's minaret announces each one.

If you are planning a visit, the main point is that the Koutoubia is not open to non-Muslim visitors at any time, prayer or not. Its interior can only be seen by Muslims attending prayers. What everyone can enjoy is the outside: the minaret, about 77 m tall, with its carved stone panels, and the large gardens that flank the mosque, which are free and pleasant at any hour. The rose garden to the west and south of the mosque is a calm place to sit and listen to the call at sunset.

Around prayer times the area gets busier, especially for Maghrib and on Fridays, when worshippers fill the courtyards and the streets nearby. Be respectful: do not walk through groups at prayer, do not photograph people praying, and keep your voice down near the entrances. Dress modestly in the area, as you would anywhere near a mosque.

If you would like to see the inside of a Moroccan mosque, the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca is the one generally open to non-Muslim visitors on guided tours; check locally for current visiting times.