🏠Home Assistant Integration

Overview

This guide shows how to set up prayer time sensors in Home Assistant using the PrayCalendar JSON API. You can use these sensors to:

• Display prayer times on your Home Assistant dashboard
• Send notifications when it's time to pray
• Automate lights, speakers, or other devices before prayer times
• Show countdown to next prayer

1. Basic Sensor Setup

Add the following to your configuration.yaml:

rest:
  - resource: "https://pray.ahmedelywa.com/api/prayer-times.json?address=Cairo,Egypt&method=5"
    scan_interval: 3600
    sensor:
      - name: "Prayer Times"
        value_template: "{{ value_json.nextPrayer.name }}"
        json_attributes:
          - timings
          - nextPrayer
          - date
      - name: "Next Prayer"
        value_template: "{{ value_json.nextPrayer.name }}"
        json_attributes_path: "$.nextPrayer"
        json_attributes:
          - time
          - minutesUntil
      - name: "Fajr Time"
        value_template: "{{ value_json.timings.Fajr }}"
      - name: "Dhuhr Time"
        value_template: "{{ value_json.timings.Dhuhr }}"
      - name: "Asr Time"
        value_template: "{{ value_json.timings.Asr }}"
      - name: "Maghrib Time"
        value_template: "{{ value_json.timings.Maghrib }}"
      - name: "Isha Time"
        value_template: "{{ value_json.timings.Isha }}"

Replace Cairo,Egypt with your city and method=5 with your preferred calculation method.

2. Dashboard Card

Add an Entities card to your Lovelace dashboard:

type: entities
title: Prayer Times
entities:
  - entity: sensor.next_prayer
    name: Next Prayer
    icon: mdi:mosque
  - entity: sensor.fajr_time
    name: Fajr
    icon: mdi:weather-night
  - entity: sensor.dhuhr_time
    name: Dhuhr
    icon: mdi:white-balance-sunny
  - entity: sensor.asr_time
    name: Asr
    icon: mdi:weather-sunset
  - entity: sensor.maghrib_time
    name: Maghrib
    icon: mdi:weather-sunset-down
  - entity: sensor.isha_time
    name: Isha
    icon: mdi:moon-waning-crescent

3. Prayer Time Notifications

Create an automation to send mobile notifications at prayer times:

automation:
  - alias: "Prayer Time Notification"
    trigger:
      - platform: template
        value_template: >
          {{ now().strftime('%H:%M') == states('sensor.fajr_time') }}
      - platform: template
        value_template: >
          {{ now().strftime('%H:%M') == states('sensor.dhuhr_time') }}
      - platform: template
        value_template: >
          {{ now().strftime('%H:%M') == states('sensor.asr_time') }}
      - platform: template
        value_template: >
          {{ now().strftime('%H:%M') == states('sensor.maghrib_time') }}
      - platform: template
        value_template: >
          {{ now().strftime('%H:%M') == states('sensor.isha_time') }}
    action:
      - service: notify.mobile_app_your_phone
        data:
          title: "Prayer Time"
          message: "It's time for {{ states('sensor.next_prayer') }} prayer"

Replace mobile_app_your_phone with your actual mobile app notify service.

4. Advanced: Pre-Prayer Automation

Use the minutesUntil attribute to trigger actions before prayer time:

automation:
  - alias: "Pre-Prayer Reminder"
    trigger:
      - platform: template
        value_template: >
          {{ state_attr('sensor.next_prayer', 'minutesUntil') | int == 15 }}
    action:
      - service: light.turn_on
        target:
          entity_id: light.prayer_room
        data:
          brightness_pct: 100
          color_temp_kelvin: 4000
      - service: tts.speak
        target:
          entity_id: tts.google_translate_say
        data:
          message: "{{ states('sensor.next_prayer') }} prayer in 15 minutes"