Fes, Morocco · UTC+1 ☆

Fes, Morocco’s oldest imperial capital and home to the world’s largest car-free urban area (Fes el-Bali), runs on UTC+1 year-round. Morocco moved to permanent UTC+1 in 2018, having previously observed daylight saving with modifications during Ramadan (when clocks would revert temporarily to avoid late iftar times). The back-and-forth caused confusion, and the government resolved it by abandoning DST entirely and staying at UTC+1.

the medina’s time: prayer, not UTC

The medina of Fes el-Bali operates on a rhythm that predates modern timekeeping. The adhan (call to prayer) from the Kairaouine Mosque, one of the world’s oldest continuously operating universities, marks five prayer times daily, each calculated from the position of the sun. These times shift gradually through the year regardless of what UTC+1 says. A craftsman in the tanneries of Chouara starts his day by the fajr prayer, not by a clock.

Fes sits at 34 degrees north, where solar noon falls around 12:30pm in winter and 1:30pm when Morocco used to observe DST. Now at permanent UTC+1, solar noon is around 12:30pm throughout the year, reasonably aligned with clock noon. The medina’s narrow streets and high walls create their own light patterns: direct sun hits different alleys at different hours, and experienced residents read the light to tell time more accurately than any posted clock.

Convert 9am Fes time to London

Sources

• IANA Time Zone Database
• Direction de la Météorologie Nationale, Maroc
• Le Tourneau, Roger. Fez in the Age of the Marinides. University of Oklahoma Press, 1961.