Qibla Direction Finder

How to use the Qibla finder

1. Set your location. Allow location access, choose the nearest city, or enter latitude and longitude (you can copy them from any map app).
2. Read the bearing. The large number is the Qibla direction in degrees, measured clockwise from true north. For example, 90° is due east and 135° is southeast.
3. Turn to face it. On a phone, tap "Enable live compass", hold the phone flat and turn until the black Kaaba marker sits under the arrow at the top of the dial. Without a live compass, use a separate compass and the degree value.
4. Double-check. If possible, compare with the direction used by a local mosque, especially indoors or near metal.

Facing the Qibla in prayer

Facing the Qibla is one of the conditions of the obligatory prayer. Early in the Madinan period Muslims prayed towards Jerusalem, and then the Qibla was changed to the Sacred Mosque in Makkah, as described in Surah al-Baqarah.

When you cannot see the Kaaba, you make a reasonable effort to determine its direction. Most scholars hold that facing its general direction is enough for someone far away, so small differences of a few degrees are not a cause for worry.

How the Qibla direction is calculated

The Earth is a sphere (very nearly), and the shortest route between two points on a sphere is an arc of agreat circle. The Qibla direction is the compass bearing at which that shortest route leaves your location towards the Kaaba, located at about 21.4225° N, 39.8262° E.

For a place at latitude φ₁ and longitude λ₁, with the Kaaba at φ₂, λ₂, the initial bearing θ is:

θ = atan2( sin Δλ · cos φ₂ , cos φ₁ · sin φ₂ − sin φ₁ · cos φ₂ · cos Δλ ), where Δλ = λ₂ − λ₁

The result is converted to degrees and normalised to 0–360°. The distance shown uses the haversine formula with a mean Earth radius of 6,371 km. These are the same calculations used by most modern Qibla apps.

A great-circle route can look surprising on a flat map. From New York, United States the Qibla is about 58° (east-northeast), from London, United Kingdom about 119° (east-southeast), from Karachi, Pakistan about 268° (west), and from Jakarta, Indonesia about 295° (west-northwest). Historically, some communities in North America faced southeast, following a straight line on a Mercator map (a "rhumb line"); today nearly all mosques and Islamic organisations use the great-circle direction.

Qibla direction from major cities

Bearings are measured clockwise from true north and calculated from each city centre. Click a city name to load it into the finder above.

Other ways to find the Qibla

• Ask the local mosque. The prayer hall's direction has usually been checked carefully, and local Muslims can tell you which way to face.
• Use the sun's position over the Kaaba. Around 27–28 May (about 12:18 Makkah time) and 15–16 July (about 12:27 Makkah time) the sun is almost directly overhead the Kaaba. Wherever the sun is visible at that moment, the shadow of a vertical stick points directly away from the Qibla.
• Use a map. Online maps that draw a geodesic (great-circle) line from your home to Makkah show the same direction as this tool.

Once you know which way to face, check today's prayer times for your city, keep count of your dhikr with the tasbih counter, or see all our Islamic tools.