Qibla direction – find the qibla from where you are

The qibla is the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca, which Muslims face in prayer. From London it is about 119°, a little south of east; from New York about 58°, north-east, even though Mecca lies further south than New York. That surprises people who look at a flat world map, where a straight line to Mecca points east-south-east. The direction most mosques, scholars and qibla apps use today is the start of the shortest route over the globe, the great circle, and that route from North America crosses the North Atlantic and Europe. This page calculates that direction for any point you choose: your own position, a town from the search, a click on the map or pasted coordinates. It gives the bearing in degrees from true north, which is what the map and the sun use, and the bearing to set on a magnetic compass, corrected with the magnetic declination for the place and today's date. On a phone the compass button turns an arrow towards the qibla. For anyone who prefers not to rely on a compass, the page also lists the moments of the chosen day when the sun itself stands in the qibla direction, or exactly behind it so that a shadow points the way, and the two days a year when the sun is straight over the Kaaba.

How to use it

1. Press "Find the qibla from my location" and allow your browser to share its position, or search a town, paste coordinates or click on the map.
2. Read the qibla bearing in degrees from true north and follow the green line on the map from your point to the Kaaba.
3. Set the magnetic bearing on a compass, or press "Start the compass" on a phone and turn until it says you are facing the qibla.
4. To check without a compass, pick a day and use one of the listed times when the sun, or a shadow, points to the qibla.

How accurate is it?

How exact the bearing is

The bearing is the initial direction of the geodesic, the shortest path on the WGS84 ellipsoid, calculated with GeographicLib to far better than 0.01°. The page also shows the bearing on a perfect sphere, the formula of most printed tables and apps: for every place within 15,000 km of Mecca, which covers Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and North America, the two differ by less than 0.25°. The difference only grows near the antipode of the Kaaba in the South Pacific, where every direction leads to Mecca by almost the same distance.

The compass is the weak link

A magnetic compass points to magnetic north, not true north. The difference, the magnetic declination, comes from the World Magnetic Model 2025 and is already subtracted in the magnetic bearing: in New York it is about 12.5° west, so the compass bearing is 70.9° instead of 58.4°. A phone compass is usually only good to 5–10° and can be off by much more next to steel, a car, a speaker or a magnetic phone case; move away from metal and calibrate it by turning the phone in a figure of eight.

The sun as a check

The sun times use the NOAA solar formulas, accurate to about a minute. When the sun is exactly in the qibla direction, facing it is correct to within a degree; a shadow from a vertical stick, a lamp post or the edge of a wall points the opposite way of the sun. Twice a year, around 27–28 May at 09:18 UTC and 15–16 July at 09:27 UTC, the sun stands straight over the Kaaba, and anyone who can see it faces the qibla by facing the sun.

Good to know

A flat map shows a different line

On a Mercator map, such as most web maps, the straight line between two places is a rhumb line with a constant compass bearing, not the shortest path. From New York the rhumb line to Mecca starts at 101°, east-south-east, while the great circle starts at 58°. Some older North American communities used the rhumb line direction; most mosques and authorities today use the great circle. Tick "Show the rhumb line" to see both and decide with your own community or mosque.

Your position must be right

On a laptop the browser may place you from your internet address, sometimes in another town. The qibla hardly changes over a few kilometres, but check that the point is roughly where you are, or click your real spot on the map. The page shows how accurate the browser says the position is.

Small errors do not move you far

A difference of 1° at 4,000 km from Mecca points about 70 km beside the Kaaba. That is why the sphere, the ellipsoid and an accurate compass all agree in practice, while a compass next to a radiator, which can be 30° off, does not. When in doubt, follow the direction of the local mosque, whose mihrab was usually laid out with care.