Qibla direction in Marand

How to face the Qibla in Marand

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 18.4° towards west: the result is the bearing of 198.4°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at south would leave you about 18° off.

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 Marand, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Marand 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

On a flat (Mercator) map, the straight line from Marand to Mecca points to 196.8°, only 1.7° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 198.4° bearing remains the exact one.

How is the figure of 198.4° obtained? From the coordinates of Marand (38.4329° N, 45.7749° 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 Marand to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,975 km from Marand as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,658 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 2 h 49 min, although most pilgrims from Marand connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Marand run 0.5 hours ahead of Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Marand rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Marand

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Marand 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 13:42 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Marand 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 Marand: at 12:48 and 12:57 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Marand compared with other cities

Compared with Tehran, 586 km away, the Qibla in Marand is turned 20.0° further anticlockwise (198.4° against 218.5°), and Mecca is 29 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Tabriz (60 km), prays towards 200.3°, a difference of 1.9°.

Across the 90 cities in Iran on this site, the Qibla ranges from 195.9° in Khoy to 257.6° in Iranshahr, a spread of 61.7°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Iran.

Qibla in cities near Marand

• Tabriz200.3° · 60 km
• Khoy195.9° · 73 km
• Ahar202.1° · 113 km
• Urmia197.2° · 115 km
• Marāgheh, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran200.9° · 123 km
• Mīāndoāb201.1° · 166 km