Qibla direction in Shizuishan

How to face the Qibla in Shizuishan

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 3.4° towards north: the result is the bearing of 273.4°. The direction is close to due west, which makes it easy to remember.

Scholars agree that someone who can see the Kaaba must face it exactly, while someone far away faces its direction (jihat al-Ka‘bah) as precisely as reasonably possible. If a mosque is nearby, its mihrab and prayer lines are the easiest reference, since they were set when the building was laid out. At home, mark the direction once with tape or a small arrow so the whole family prays the same way.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Shizuishan to Mecca points to 252.9° (west), a full 20.5° away from the true Qibla of 273.4° (west). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 106 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Shizuishan first heads west, and that is the direction to face.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 38.9808° N, 106.3892° E to the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E). It is the method used by mosque architects and by every serious Qibla calculator, and it gives one exact answer for each point on Earth.

Distance from Shizuishan to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 6,542 km from Shizuishan as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 6,377 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 8 h 12 min, although most pilgrims from Shizuishan connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Shizuishan run 5 hours ahead of Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Shizuishan rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Shizuishan

On 162 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Shizuishan 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 18:27 local time.

On 187 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 1 April 2027 at 07:42.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Shizuishan: at 17:18 and 17:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Shizuishan compared with other cities

Compared with Beijing, 865 km away, the Qibla in Shizuishan is turned 5.5° further anticlockwise (273.4° against 278.9°), and Mecca is 843 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Huinong (43 km), prays towards 273.5°, a difference of 0.1°.

Across the 612 cities in China on this site, the Qibla ranges from 249.0° in Tacheng to 286.5° in Suifenhe, a spread of 37.5°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for China.

Qibla in cities near Shizuishan

• Huinong273.5° · 43 km
• Yinchuan273.7° · 58 km
• Wuda273.3° · 64 km
• Wuhai273.3° · 86 km
• Wuzhong273.9° · 112 km
• Zhongwei273.6° · 194 km