How to find the Qibla

Every prayer begins by turning toward the Kaaba. The Qibla is that direction — not a building you can see from most places, but a line across the surface of the earth. Once you understand how the line is drawn, finding it becomes ordinary: a compass, a shadow, or the mihrab of a mosque.

This guide explains the bearing, the two kinds of north, and the methods that work when your phone is out of charge. It also points out the small mistakes that quietly send people a few degrees off.

What the Qibla is

The Qibla is the direction of the Kaaba at Masjid al-Haram in Makkah. The Quran sets the practice: “Turn your face toward the Sacred Mosque” (Al-Baqarah 2:144). The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) prayed facing it, and generations of mosques have marked it with the mihrab, the niche in the qibla wall.

On a sphere, the shortest path between two points is a great-circle arc, not a straight line on a flat map. The Qibla is the starting direction of that arc from where you stand. That is why it is described in degrees clockwise from true north rather than as a simple compass point.

Why the bearing changes

Two people facing Makkah from London and from New York are not facing the same way. The bearing depends on your position, and it changes as you move — slowly within one city, dramatically across the world.

The values are rounded and measured from the city centre. Use the city Qibla page for the exact bearing where you are; there is a page for every city in the DeenDock index, from New York to Sydney.

Using a compass

The main difficulty is not the number, it is the north. A magnetic compass needle points to magnetic north, which is not the same as true north. The difference — magnetic declination — varies by location and changes slowly over time. In some places it is a degree or two; in others it is more than twenty.

• Use true north. Most phone compass apps can show true north, usually labelled “true” or with a setting. If yours only shows magnetic north, apply the local declination for your area.
• Calibrate first. Move the phone in a figure-eight a few times, away from metal, magnets, laptops and car dashboards. A phone case with a magnetic clasp is enough to spoil the reading.
• Hold it flat, then turn. Keep the phone level. Rotate until the Qibla bearing — say 119° for London — sits at the top mark. The top of the phone now points along the line to Makkah.

A physical compass works the same way: align the needle with north on the bezel, then turn the bezel until the Qibla bearing sits under the direction-of-travel arrow. If the compass only has a magnetic needle, adjust for declination first.

The sun and shadow method

Twice a year the sun passes almost directly over the Kaaba, around 28 May and 16 July, shortly after midday in Makkah. At that moment the sun’s direction and the Qibla direction are the same for every place on earth where the sun is visible. Face the sun and you are facing the Qibla; your shadow points away from it.

The exact minute shifts slightly each year, and clouds can hide the sun, so treat this as a memorable check rather than a daily method. A second, quieter method works most sunny days: at local solar noon, a vertical stick’s shadow lies along the north–south line. In most northern-hemisphere locations outside the tropics, that shadow points north. Mark the line, and use it to set true north on a compass or a map.

The mihrab and local knowledge

In an established mosque, the mihrab marks the Qibla wall. For most people, most of the time, this is the simplest and most reliable answer: the community has faced that direction for years, and the building was aligned by people who knew the locality.

Old mosques can be a few degrees out, and a converted building may have inherited an approximate alignment. If you are travelling and unsure, ask someone at the mosque. Local knowledge usually beats a phone held at an angle in a doorway.

Common mistakes

• Treating magnetic north as true north. The bearing on this site is measured from true north. A raw compass needle is not.
• Reading the compass while moving. Walk, stop, then read. A swinging needle or a phone in motion gives unstable numbers.
• Standing beside metal. Railings, cars, speakers and reinforced walls all pull a magnetic sensor.
• Using a bearing for the wrong place. The Qibla for the city centre is close enough within the city, but if you have moved far — another town, another country — use the bearing for where you actually are.
• Confusing degrees with compass points. 119° is not “north-east”. Read the number clockwise from north, or use the cardinal description as a sanity check.

If you are unsure

Make a reasonable effort, then pray toward your best estimate. A few degrees of error, made in good faith after checking, does not invalidate the prayer. What matters is that you turned toward the Kaaba rather than abandoning the question.

For a precise bearing, a compass without magnetic interference and a prayer time you can trust, start with your city on DeenDock. The prayer times page finds your city automatically, and every city page carries the Qibla beside the salah times.