Qibla direction in Alexandria

How to face the Qibla in Alexandria

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 44.6° towards east: the result is the bearing of 135.4°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “south” would be off by more than 40°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Alexandria.

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 Alexandria, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Alexandria 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 Alexandria to Mecca points to 137.8° (south-east), 2.4° away from the correct 135.4°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is not 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 135.4° obtained? From the coordinates of Alexandria (31.2018° N, 29.9158° 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 Alexandria to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,468 km from Alexandria as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,211 km away. The distance is short enough that many pilgrims from Alexandria travel to the Hijaz by road.

Clocks in Alexandria run 1 hour behind Mecca in winter and the same time as Mecca in summer, because of daylight saving time. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Alexandria rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Alexandria

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Alexandria while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in January (31 days); for example, on 1 January 2027 it happens at 09:01 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Alexandria during daylight, so the shadow method does not apply here; the left-hand column is the one to use.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Alexandria: at 12:18 and 12:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Alexandria compared with other cities

Compared with Cairo, 180 km away, the Qibla in Alexandria is turned 0.8° further anticlockwise (135.4° against 136.2°), and Mecca is 180 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Kafr ad Dawwār (22 km), prays towards 135.9°, a difference of 0.5°.

Across the 55 cities in Egypt on this site, the Qibla ranges from 111.3° in Aswān to 149.5° in Arish, a spread of 38.2°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Egypt.

Qibla in cities near Alexandria

• Kafr ad Dawwār135.9° · 22 km
• Idkū137.0° · 38 km
• Rosetta137.6° · 52 km
• Damanhur136.7° · 56 km
• Disūq137.6° · 70 km
• Kafr ash Shaykh138.5° · 98 km