Qibla direction in Thakurgaon

How to face the Qibla in Thakurgaon

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 4.8° towards north: the result is the bearing of 274.8°. The direction is close to due west, which makes it easy to remember.

Facing the Qibla is a condition of the prayer. Whoever prays inside the Sacred Mosque faces the Kaaba itself; whoever is far away, as in Thakurgaon, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Thakurgaon is a handy reference, because the prayer rows were aligned when it was built. Once you know the direction at home, a discreet mark on the wall saves you from checking again.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Thakurgaon to Mecca points to 264.1° (west), 10.7° away from the correct 274.8°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 26 km longer than the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

How is the figure of 274.8° obtained? From the coordinates of Thakurgaon (26.0310° N, 88.4699° E) and of the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E), spherical trigonometry gives the starting bearing of the great circle joining them. Mosque architects and astronomical Qibla tables rely on exactly the same calculation.

Distance from Thakurgaon to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 4,951 km from Thakurgaon as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,888 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 6 h 19 min, although most pilgrims from Thakurgaon connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Thakurgaon run 3 hours ahead of Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Thakurgaon rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Thakurgaon

On 154 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Thakurgaon while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in May (31 days); for example, on 15 April 2027 it happens at 17:28 local time.

On 199 days the sun stands exactly opposite the Qibla: then the shadow of any vertical object, a pole, a door frame or a plumb line, points straight towards Mecca. This is most frequent in May (31 days), for instance on 15 March 2027 at 06:40.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Thakurgaon: at 15:18 and 15:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Thakurgaon compared with other cities

Compared with Dhaka, 324 km away, the Qibla in Thakurgaon is turned 2.9° further anticlockwise (274.8° against 277.7°), and Mecca is 222 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Dinajpur (48 km), prays towards 275.2°, a difference of 0.5°.

Among the 44 cities in Bangladesh on this site, Thakurgaon has the smallest Qibla bearing; the largest is 280.1° in Cox’s Bāzār. Across the country the direction varies by 5.4°.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Bangladesh.

Qibla in cities near Thakurgaon

• Dinajpur275.2° · 48 km
• Saidpur275.2° · 51 km
• Rangpur City275.3° · 84 km
• Mohammadpur275.9° · 126 km
• Shibganj276.1° · 143 km
• Naogaon276.2° · 145 km