Qibla Direction
Pick a city or use your location to get the Qibla bearing in degrees from true north.
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What the Qibla direction actually is
The Qibla is the direction a Muslim faces in prayer: the great-circle bearing from wherever you are standing to the Kaaba in Makkah, at approximately 21.4225 degrees north, 39.8262 degrees east. It is not "face the Middle East" or "face south-east" as a rule of thumb — it is a specific bearing, in degrees from true north, calculated for one exact point on the map. Move a few hundred kilometres and the bearing changes; the tool above computes it fresh for the coordinates you give it, whether that is a city you select or your device's own location.
Why the direction can look wrong on a flat map
This is the single biggest source of confusion, and it has nothing to do with the calculation being wrong. A world map is a flat projection of a sphere, and the projection distorts direction the further you get from the map's centre line. If you draw a straight ruler-line from, say, Los Angeles or Tokyo to Makkah on a standard Mercator map, that line does not point the way you should actually face. The true Qibla, in both of those cases, runs closer to north-east than the map suggests, because the shortest path over a sphere curves toward the pole at high latitudes rather than running diagonally across the flat page.
The bearing this tool gives you is calculated on the sphere, not read off a flat map, so it does not carry that distortion. If the number surprises you compared with what you expected from looking at a map, the tool is very likely right and the mental picture from the map is the thing that is off.
How the bearing is calculated
Given your latitude and longitude and the Kaaba's fixed coordinates, the tool solves the initial bearing on a great-circle course between the two points using standard spherical trigonometry. The result is expressed as degrees clockwise from true north, from 0 (due north) through 90 (due east), 180 (due south) and 270 (due west) back to 360. This is the same formula used throughout this site: every city page states the same kind of bearing for that city's stored coordinates, so the compass tool and the written pages will always agree.
Compass, GPS, and the difference between magnetic and true north
The bearing shown here is from true north — the direction of the geographic North Pole. A magnetic compass does not point at true north; it points at magnetic north, which is currently located in the Arctic and drifts slowly year by year. The gap between the two, called magnetic declination, varies by location and can be several degrees or more depending on where you are. A compass app that does not correct for this will give you a bearing that is off by roughly the local declination.
Phone compasses have a second, more immediate problem: they are easily thrown off by nearby metal and electronics. Reinforced concrete, steel furniture, other phones, and even some building materials can swing a phone compass by tens of degrees. If you are checking direction inside a building, move away from large metal objects and appliances, and treat the reading as approximate rather than exact.
For a permanent installation, have it surveyed
This tool is built for orientation and planning: laying out a prayer mat, checking a hotel room, or getting your bearings while travelling. For anything permanent — a musalla, a prayer room in a new building, a mosque extension — do not rely on a phone compass at all. Have the bearing established by a surveyor or by someone using proper astronomical or GPS-based orientation methods. The cost of getting it wrong is measured in years of a room facing slightly off, and the tools that do it properly are not expensive.
An old method that still works: the twice-yearly solar alignment
Long before satellite positioning existed, one reliable way to check the Qibla anywhere in the world used the sun itself. Twice a year, in late May and again in mid-July, the sun passes almost directly over Makkah at local solar noon there. For a short window on those days, any vertical object anywhere that can see the sun casts a shadow that points directly away from the Kaaba — so the opposite direction, back toward the sun, is the Qibla. Observatories and astronomy societies still publicise these dates each year, and it remains one of the simplest ways to verify a compass-based bearing against something independently checkable.
What this tool does not do
It computes a bearing. It does not verify that your specific room, mat, or building is currently aligned to that bearing — that requires you to actually take a measurement where you are. And it has no connection to prayer times: for a specific city's daily schedule, use that city's own page, linked from the search above or from the full city list.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the Qibla direction from my city look strange compared to a map?
Flat world maps distort direction, especially far from the map's centre and toward the poles. A straight line drawn on a Mercator map is not the same as the shortest path over the curved surface of the Earth, which is what the true bearing follows. For cities in North America, East Asia and similar high-latitude regions, the real Qibla often runs closer to north-east than a flat map suggests. The bearing this tool gives you is calculated on the sphere, so it does not carry that distortion.
Is the bearing from true north or magnetic north?
True north. A magnetic compass points at magnetic north, which sits in a different place and drifts over time, so the two can differ by several degrees or more depending on where you are. If you are using a compass app to find this bearing physically, check whether it corrects for magnetic declination at your location, and be aware that nearby metal and electronics can throw a phone compass off by a much larger margin than declination alone.
Can I trust a phone compass to set up a permanent prayer space?
Not on its own. Phone compasses are useful for a quick check but are easily disturbed by reinforced concrete, steel fittings, and nearby electronics, sometimes by tens of degrees. For anything permanent, such as a musalla or a room in a new building, have the bearing established by a surveyor or with proper astronomical or GPS-based methods rather than relying on a single compass reading.
What is the twice-yearly method for checking the Qibla with the sun?
On two days each year, in late May and again in mid-July, the sun sits almost directly overhead at Makkah around local solar noon there. For a brief window on those days, a vertical object anywhere that can see the sun casts a shadow pointing directly away from the Kaaba, so facing back toward the sun at that moment gives the Qibla. It is a genuinely useful independent check against a compass bearing.
Does this tool also give me prayer times?
No, it only calculates the direction of prayer. For daily prayer times, sunrise, a live countdown and a monthly calendar, use the specific page for your city, reachable from the search box above or from the full list of cities we cover.