Qibla Without a Compass: Sun, Shadows, Mihrab and Maps

A compass is convenient, not necessary. Muslims found the qibla for centuries by the sun, the stars and a knowledge of geography, and all of those methods still work when your phone is flat or you are somewhere its compass is useless. This article gives four methods, in order of ease, each with a worked example. First get your bearing from the qibla tool; most of the methods need it.

Method 1: the sun over the Kaaba (twice a year)

Twice a year the sun is directly overhead the Kaaba at Makkah's solar noon. At those instants, from anywhere on the sunlit side of the Earth, the sun is in the direction of the Kaaba, and any vertical object's shadow points exactly away from it.

The exact minute shifts slightly from year to year; the dates above are the expected ones for 2027 and are the same every year to within a day.

How to do it.

1. Convert the UTC time to your clock. London in late May is on BST, so 09:18 UTC is 10:18; Berlin and Paris, 11:18; Istanbul, 12:18; Karachi, 14:18; Jakarta, 16:18.
2. A few minutes before, stand a straight stick or bottle upright on level ground in the sun, or hang a weighted string.
3. At the moment, mark the shadow's line on the ground. The qibla is the opposite direction, straight along the shadow towards its base and beyond.
4. Note it permanently: a mark on the floor, a line on a balcony tile, a photo with a landmark.

This works for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia as far east as Indonesia, where the sun is still up at 16:18. For the Americas and the Pacific the sun has set, so use the opposite event below.

Method 1b: the sun opposite the Kaaba (the other two nights)

When it is solar midnight at Makkah, the sun is directly over the antipode of the Kaaba in the South Pacific. From anywhere where the sun is then up, including most of the Americas, the qibla is exactly away from the sun, so the shadow of a vertical stick points straight at the qibla.

New York on 13 January is on EST, so 21:30 UTC is 16:30; Los Angeles 13:30; Mexico City 15:30. The sun is low in the afternoon sky then, which gives a long, easy shadow to mark.

Method 2: the noon shadow plus your bearing

This works on any sunny day. You need two numbers from this site: your qibla bearing from the qibla tool and the Dhuhr time from the prayer times tool, which is a minute or two after solar noon.

1. At solar noon, a vertical stick's shadow points due north (in the northern hemisphere outside the tropics) or due south (southern hemisphere). Mark that line.
2. Place a printed compass rose or a protractor on the ground with north along the shadow.
3. Turn clockwise from north by your bearing. London 119°, Istanbul 152°, New York 58°, Jakarta 295°.

Example: in London at 12:14 GMT on 8 February 2027 the shadow points north. Qibla is 119° clockwise from the shadow, which is a little south of east. Draw it and mark it.

In the tropics the noon shadow may point the other way in some months, or vanish entirely near the equinoxes; there, prefer Method 1 or 3.

Method 3: the mihrab or a known building

In any established mosque the mihrab niche faces the qibla, and the rows are laid along it. When you are near a mosque, take its orientation: stand in its courtyard or along its outside wall and note a distant landmark in the mihrab's direction. From home that same landmark, if visible, gives the line.

In Muslim-majority cities the street layout, graves in the cemetery, or the direction people pray in a park all carry the same information.

Method 4: a map and a known direction

If you know true north in your room, you only need the bearing. Ways to find north without a compass:

• The Pole Star at night, in the northern hemisphere: find the Plough (Big Dipper) and follow the two pointer stars about five times their spacing to Polaris. It sits due north within a degree.
• Sunrise and sunset are only roughly east and west; they shift up to 40° with the seasons at London's latitude, so use them only for a first idea.
• An online map with north up, your building visible and a known straight street: measure the street's angle from north with a protractor on the screen, then step round to your bearing.

Once you have north, turn clockwise by your bearing and mark the line.

Marking it once

In a home, a hotel or an office, you only need to find the qibla once. Lay a prayer rug along the line, put a small sticker on the skirting board, or note which corner of the window it passes through. For an office, a tiny arrow under the desk is enough. For travel, note the bearing in a text file before you leave, and on arrival use Method 2 or 4 in the first daylight; see prayer times when travelling.

When you cannot determine it

If you have tried and cannot find it, you make your best estimate and pray. A hadith reported by al-Tirmidhi tells the people of Madinah that what lies between east and west is a qibla, from which scholars take that at a distance the direction, not pinpoint accuracy, is required. What to do if you later discover you were facing the wrong way is handled differently by the schools, so ask a scholar or imam you trust. For the compass-based method and the geometry behind the bearing, see qibla direction.