It's the night before Eid. The committee has agreed the salah times, and now they need to reach everyone. Someone updates the whiteboard. Someone else makes a poster. The website still shows last year's times, because the only person with the login is abroad. By morning, half the WhatsApp groups have the right time and the other half are arguing about it.
Every masjid has a version of this story. The problem is almost never the people. It's that the same information lives in too many places, and each one has to be changed by hand. (It's the same problem behind most masjid admin, which the guide to mosque management software looks at as a whole.)
One source for every screen
The fix is simple to describe: keep your prayer times in one place, and have everything else read from it. The screen in the prayer hall, the website and anything else that shows times should all come from the same source. Change the Maghrib jama'ah once and it's right everywhere, with no second copy to forget.
Labbaik works this way. Its prayer board shows the day's times, the next jama'ah and your announcements on a screen in the masjid, and the same times appear on your website. Change a time once and it updates everywhere.
What a good prayer screen shows
- Today's times, for each prayer, including jama'ah times where your masjid sets them.
- The next jama'ah, clearly marked, so someone walking in knows at a glance how long they have.
- Jumu'ah times, especially if you run more than one khutbah.
- Current announcements, short enough to read from the back of the hall.
Resist the urge to put everything on it. A screen crowded with posters, hadith, adverts and a clock nobody can read helps no one. The times come first.
Ramadan and Eid
These are the weeks when the screen matters most, and when it's most likely to go wrong. Taraweeh times, suhoor and iftar, the last ten nights, Eid salah, sometimes two or three Eid jama'ahs. The community is at its busiest in the masjid and the most people are relying on the times being right.
Plan the Ramadan timetable before the month starts, put it in once, and let the screen and the website follow. When Eid is confirmed, one change reaches everywhere at the same moment. The screen is also the best place for the Ramadan appeal's QR code; the guide to online donations for masajid covers that side.
Announcements that don't go stale
Every masjid website has a graveyard: the lecture from March, the Ramadan appeal that ended two years ago, a poster for an event nobody remembers. Old notices make people doubt the current ones.
Two habits fix most of this. Post each announcement once, and have it appear on the screen and the website together. And give every announcement an end date. In Labbaik, an announcement goes onto your website straight away, with PDFs and posters attached, and when its end date passes it takes itself down.
The times are yours
Masajid follow different timetables and methods, and jama'ah times are a decision for your imam and committee. Good software shows what your masjid has decided rather than deciding for you. Whatever you choose, check the first week of times on the screen against your printed timetable before relying on it.
Why it matters
It's easy to think of prayer times as admin. But for the brother who rushes from work to catch Asr, the sister who plans her evening around Isha, or the family travelling across town for Eid, the time on that screen is a promise. Getting it right, everywhere, every time, is one of the quiet ways a masjid looks after its people. And when masajid publish accurate times online, a traveller in an unfamiliar city can find their brothers and sisters for the next prayer. That's the ummah, connected by something as simple as a timetable that's right.
Questions committees ask
What should a masjid prayer time screen show?
The day's prayer times, the next jama'ah, and the current announcements. Keep it readable from the back of the hall: large times, the next prayer clearly marked, and notices kept short.
How do we keep the screen and the website in sync?
Use one source for both. In Labbaik, the prayer board screen in the masjid and the times on your website come from the same place, so when you change a time once it updates everywhere.
Can announcements take themselves down?
Yes. In Labbaik, give an announcement an end date and it removes itself when the date passes, so last season's Eid times don't sit on your homepage.
Who decides the prayer times shown?
Your imam and committee. Software should display the times your masjid has set, including jama'ah times, rather than decide them for you. Whichever timetable or method your masjid follows, the screen should show exactly that.