Qibla Compass

How the Qibla direction is calculated

The Qibla is the great-circle bearing from your location to the Kaaba in Makkah (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E) — the shortest path over Earth's curved surface, computed with spherical trigonometry from your latitude and longitude. Note it is not a straight line on a flat map: Mercator maps distort direction, which is why the Qibla from North America points northeast, surprising many first-time users. Your phone then shows this bearing on a compass dial — but phone compasses point to magnetic north, not true north, and the difference (magnetic declination) varies by location; good compass tools correct for it automatically.

Worked example: Qibla from London

London sits at about 51.5° N, 0.1° W. Plugging both coordinates into the great-circle formula gives a bearing of approximately 119° — east-southeast, roughly toward the sunrise side. From New York the same math gives ~58.5° (northeast). Same Kaaba, wildly different compass numbers: that is spherical geometry doing its job.

Practical tips

Calibrate your phone compass (wave it in a figure-8) and step away from metal objects, speakers, and reinforced concrete — they warp magnetic readings by several degrees. Enable location services for an exact bearing, and when in doubt, cross-check with a second method: the sun's position or your hotel's Qibla marker.

The twice-yearly sun trick

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba — around May 27–28 and July 15–16 (~12:18 Makkah time). At that moment, the sun's direction is the Qibla direction everywhere it is daytime: stick a vertical object in the ground and its shadow points away from the Qibla (face opposite the shadow). No compass, no GPS, no declination corrections — pure astronomy, accurate to a fraction of a degree. Many mosques re-verify their Qibla alignment on these dates. It is the perfect annual cross-check for any compass reading you doubt.

Key takeaways

• The Qibla is the great-circle bearing to the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E).
• Calibrate your phone compass and step away from metal for an accurate reading.
• Twice a year (late May, mid-July) the sun sits directly over the Kaaba — a free precision check.