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According to Islamic tradition, a "day" goes from twilight to twilight when color can no longer be distinguished in thread. It appears that this has been Arab custom for hundreds of years. It also agrees with Jewish custom. The Jewish system of threads was required for distinguishing the Tzitzit, Biblically commanded blue threads worn on prayer shawls. This has lead more than one historian to propose that early Muslims wore prayer shawls.

Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (vol. iii, p. 127) says that the Muslims have borrowed the concept of the week and the festivals from the Jews. The concept of the week in Islam derives from spiritual purgation and self-reform, while the name of the last day, al-Jum'a, is Qur'anic. The days have been serially named and continue to correspond to Jewish custom even today. There continues to be agreement as to the Shabat or Sabbath day.

Table 4, Correspondence of Islamic and Jewish Weekdays Islamic Jewish English yawm al-a’had yom rishon (yom echad) First day (day one) yawm al-athnayn yom sheni (yom shnayim) Second day (day two) yawm al-thalatha yom shaleshi (yom shalosh) Third day (day three) yawm al-arba'a yom rivi’i (yom arba’a) Fourth day (day four) yawm al-khamis yom khameshi (yom khamesh) Fifth day yawm al-jum'a QUR’ANIC yom shishi Sixth day yawm al-sabt yom shabat Shabbat (day of rest)