- Qibla direction, from true north
- Distance to the Kaaba
- Your location
Qibla Direction from Major Cities
Bearings are measured clockwise from true north along the shortest path over the Earth (the great circle).
Choose a city to see it on the compass.
| City | Country | Qibla | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | UK | 119° ESE | 4,794 km |
| Birmingham | UK | 118° ESE | 4,952 km |
| Manchester | UK | 118° ESE | 5,025 km |
| Bradford | UK | 119° ESE | 5,014 km |
| Leicester | UK | 119° ESE | 4,915 km |
| Glasgow | UK | 118° ESE | 5,264 km |
| Leeds | UK | 119° ESE | 5,002 km |
| Sheffield | UK | 119° ESE | 4,975 km |
| Luton | UK | 119° ESE | 4,831 km |
| Blackburn | UK | 118° ESE | 5,053 km |
| New York | USA | 58° ENE | 10,306 km |
| Chicago | USA | 49° NE | 11,146 km |
| Houston | USA | 45° NE | 12,574 km |
| Dallas | USA | 44° NE | 12,430 km |
| Los Angeles | USA | 24° NNE | 13,424 km |
| Detroit | USA | 52° NE | 10,822 km |
| Dearborn | USA | 52° NE | 10,832 km |
| Philadelphia | USA | 58° ENE | 10,434 km |
| Washington, DC | USA | 57° ENE | 10,633 km |
| Toronto | Canada | 55° NE | 10,496 km |
| Mississauga | Canada | 54° NE | 10,517 km |
| Brampton | Canada | 54° NE | 10,516 km |
| Montreal | Canada | 59° ENE | 9,998 km |
| Calgary | Canada | 25° NNE | 11,562 km |
| Vancouver | Canada | 17° NNE | 11,974 km |
| Sydney | Australia | 277° W | 13,236 km |
| Melbourne | Australia | 279° W | 12,741 km |
| Paris | France | 119° ESE | 4,496 km |
| Berlin | Germany | 137° SE | 4,130 km |
| Amsterdam | Netherlands | 126° SE | 4,553 km |
| Brussels | Belgium | 123° ESE | 4,489 km |
| Stockholm | Sweden | 148° SSE | 4,554 km |
| Dublin | Ireland | 114° ESE | 5,257 km |
| Istanbul | Turkey | 152° SSE | 2,405 km |
| Karachi | Pakistan | 268° W | 2,800 km |
| Lahore | Pakistan | 260° W | 3,598 km |
| Islamabad | Pakistan | 256° WSW | 3,528 km |
| Dhaka | Bangladesh | 278° W | 5,172 km |
| Jakarta | Indonesia | 295° WNW | 7,920 km |
| Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia | 293° WNW | 6,974 km |
| Singapore | Singapore | 293° WNW | 7,269 km |
| Cairo | Egypt | 136° SE | 1,287 km |
| Lagos | Nigeria | 63° ENE | 4,251 km |
| Dubai | UAE | 258° WSW | 1,631 km |
| Abu Dhabi | UAE | 260° W | 1,527 km |
| Riyadh | Saudi Arabia | 244° WSW | 790 km |
| Madinah | Saudi Arabia | 176° S | 346 km |
| Jeddah | Saudi Arabia | 96° E | 66 km |
| Doha | Qatar | 253° WSW | 1,269 km |
| Kuwait City | Kuwait | 225° SW | 1,204 km |
How the Qibla Direction Is Worked Out
The Qibla is the direction of the Kaaba in Makkah, at 21.4225° N, 39.8262° E.
This page takes your latitude and longitude and calculates the great-circle bearing: the starting direction of the shortest route across the Earth’s surface to the Kaaba. It uses the haversine formula for the distance.
On a flat map, Makkah looks south-east of North America. On a globe, the shortest route heads north-east, curving over the Atlantic.
That is why the Qibla from New York is about 58°, north-east, and not south-east. This page and the Pillars app both use the great-circle direction.
How to Use a Qibla Compass
- Tap Find the Qibla and allow location. On iPhone, also allow motion and orientation access.
- Hold your phone flat, screen up, away from metal, magnets and electronics.
- Turn slowly until the Kaaba on the dial sits under the gold needle. A gold dot appears above the dial when you are facing the Qibla.
- If the dial does not move, use the bearing with a regular compass, or see How to find the Qibla without a compass below.
How to Calibrate Your Phone’s Compass
Phones sense direction with a small magnetometer, which drifts and is easily disturbed. If the direction looks wrong or jumps around:
- Move the phone slowly in a figure-of-eight a few times, tilting it as you go.
- On iPhone, keep Compass Calibration on in Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services, System Services.
- On Android, Google Maps shows how accurate your compass is when you tap the blue dot, with steps to calibrate it.
- Take off magnetic cases, wallets and mounts, and step away from cars, steel furniture and speakers.
Phone compasses measure from magnetic north, which is not quite the same as true north. The gap, called magnetic declination, depends on where you are: it is about one degree in London and more than twelve degrees in New York.
This compass corrects for the difference between magnetic and true north for your location, using the World Magnetic Model, so the live dial and the bearing are both from true north.
How to Find the Qibla Without a Compass
- Use the sun over the Kaaba.Twice a year the sun is directly above the Kaaba: on 27 or 28 May at about 09:18 UTC (10:18 in the UK), and on 15 or 16 July at about 09:27 UTC (10:27 in the UK). At that moment, wherever the sun is up, it sits in the direction of the Qibla. Stand a stick upright: its shadow points directly away from the Qibla, so face the opposite way.
- Use the midday sun.North of the tropics, the sun is due south at solar noon. Facing it tells you where south is, and you can turn from there using the bearing above.
- Look to a mosque.The mihrab, the niche in the front wall of a mosque, and the rows of prayer face the Qibla.
- Ask someone local.A nearby mosque, a Muslim neighbour, or a hotel’s Qibla marker can point the way.
About
The Qibla is the direction Muslims face in prayer: towards the Kaaba, the cube-shaped building at the centre of the Masjid al-Haram in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
In the early years of Islam, Muslims faced Jerusalem. About sixteen or seventeen months after the Hijrah, the Qibla was changed to the Kaaba, as described in the Qur’an (2:144).
FAQs
The Qibla from the UK is east-south-east. From London it is about 119° from true north. Across the UK it ranges from about 114° in Plymouth to about 122° in Aberdeen, so in every UK city you face a little south of east.
North-east. From New York the Qibla is about 58° from true north, from Chicago about 49°, from Houston about 45° and from Los Angeles about 24°. The shortest path to Makkah from North America runs north-east over the Atlantic, not south-east as a flat map suggests.
Only from some places. The Qibla is the direction of the Kaaba in Makkah, so it depends on where you are. It is east-south-east from the UK, north-east from the USA and Canada, south-east from Turkey, west from Pakistan and India, and west-north-west from Malaysia and Indonesia.
Yes. Open this page on your phone, tap Find the Qibla and allow location access (on iPhone, also allow motion and orientation). On most phones the dial then turns as you move. Hold the phone flat and turn until the gold needle points at the Kaaba. The free Pillars app has the same live Qibla compass built in.
Usually because of the phone's compass, not the calculation. Phone compasses are thrown off by metal, magnets, magnetic cases and nearby electronics, and they measure from magnetic north, which can be several degrees away from true north. Calibrate the compass, move away from metal and try again. A few tools also draw a straight line on a flat map instead of using the great-circle direction, which can differ by a lot.
No. Your location is used only inside your browser to work out the direction and distance. It is not sent to Pillars or anyone else, and it is not saved. If you share a link, it only includes the city you chose, never your coordinates.
Do your best and face the general direction. Many scholars say that when you cannot be precise, facing the general direction of the Qibla after an honest effort is enough, and the prayer is valid even if the direction turns out to be slightly off. If you are unsure, ask a local imam or scholar.
Qibla Compass and Prayer Times in Your Pocket
The free Pillars app has the same Qibla compass, with accurate prayer times, the athan and widgets. No ads, no account, and your location never leaves your phone.
Rated 4.7 out of 5 from 23,819 ratings on the App Store and Google Play.
Last updated: 19 October 2026
