Qibla direction in Tuenmen

How to face the Qibla in Tuenmen

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 15.1° towards north: the result is the bearing of 285.1°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 15° 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

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Tuenmen to Mecca points to 269.2° (west), a full 15.9° away from the true Qibla of 285.1° (west). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 86 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Tuenmen first heads west, and that is the direction to face.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 22.3918° N, 113.9716° 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 Tuenmen to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 7,563 km from Tuenmen as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 7,492 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 9 h 24 min, although most pilgrims from Tuenmen connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Tuenmen 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 Tuenmen rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Tuenmen

On 100 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Tuenmen while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in July (31 days); for example, on 15 May 2027 it happens at 17:51 local time.

On 212 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 March (31 days), for instance on 1 March 2027 at 07:55.

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

Tuenmen compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Hong Kong (285.2°), and Mecca is 23 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Tai Po (21 km), prays towards 285.1°, the same bearing to the tenth of a degree.

Among the 3 cities in Hong Kong on this site, Tuenmen has the smallest Qibla bearing; the largest is 285.2° in Hong Kong. Across the country the direction varies by 0.1°.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Hong Kong.

Qibla in cities near Tuenmen

• Tai Po285.1° · 21 km
• Hong Kong285.2° · 24 km