Qibla direction in Esna

How to face the Qibla in Esna

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 28.6° towards south: the result is the bearing of 118.6°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 29° off.

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

On a flat (Mercator) map, the straight line from Esna to Mecca points to 120.1°, only 1.5° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 118.6° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 25.2934° N, 32.5540° 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 Esna to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 858 km from Esna as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 718 km away. The distance is short enough that many pilgrims from Esna travel to the Hijaz by road.

Clocks in Esna 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 Esna rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Esna

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Esna 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 07:06 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Esna 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 Esna: at 12:18 and 12:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Esna compared with other cities

Compared with Cairo, 546 km away, the Qibla in Esna is turned 17.6° further anticlockwise (118.6° against 136.2°), and Mecca is 430 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Luxor (46 km), prays towards 121.5°, a difference of 2.9°.

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 Esna

• Luxor121.5° · 46 km
• Qina124.6° · 98 km
• Kom Ombo114.4° · 99 km
• Jirja122.5° · 134 km
• Aswān111.3° · 138 km
• Sohag122.9° · 165 km