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What the Qibla Is and How to Find It
The qibla is the direction of the Kaaba in Makkah. Finding it is a geometry problem, and the answer is often not the direction a flat map suggests.
How do I find the qibla direction?
The qibla is the great-circle bearing from where you are to the Kaaba in Makkah, at 21.4225° N, 39.8262° E. A great circle is the shortest path over the surface of a sphere, and it is why the qibla from North America points north-east rather than south-east, even though Makkah looks south-east on a flat world map.
Why a flat map misleads
A flat map has to distort a sphere to lie flat, and it distorts direction along with everything else. The shortest route from New York to Makkah passes near Greenland, so the correct bearing is around 58° — north-east. Drawing a straight line on a rectangular map gives roughly east-south-east, which is wrong by a wide margin.
True north against magnetic north
A qibla bearing is given from true north, but a compass needle points to magnetic north, and the two differ by up to about 20° depending on where you are. Phone compasses are also easily disturbed by metal, magnets and nearby electronics. If a compass and a computed bearing disagree, calibrate the device and move away from metal before trusting either.
When you cannot determine it
Pray in the direction you judge most likely to be correct. A prayer offered after a sincere effort to determine the qibla is valid even if the direction later proves slightly off — the obligation is to make the effort.
Common questions
Does the qibla change depending on where I am?
Yes. It is the bearing from your position to a fixed point, so it differs everywhere. From Cairo it is roughly south-east; from Jakarta, roughly west-north-west.
Why do two qibla apps disagree?
Usually because one shows magnetic bearing and the other true bearing, or because one uses a flat-map approximation instead of a great circle.
How far is the Kaaba from me?
Each city page on this site lists the great-circle distance alongside the bearing.
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