Qibla direction in Tabriz

How to face the Qibla in Tabriz

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 20.3° towards west: the result is the bearing of 200.3°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at south would leave you about 20° 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. The simplest check in Tabriz is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Tabriz. 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 Tabriz to Mecca points to 198.5°, only 1.8° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 200.3° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 38.0800° N, 46.2919° 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 Tabriz to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,953 km from Tabriz as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,640 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 2 h 48 min, although most pilgrims from Tabriz connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Tabriz 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 Tabriz rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Tabriz

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Tabriz 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 13:47 local time.

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

Tabriz compared with other cities

Compared with Tehran, 528 km away, the Qibla in Tabriz is turned 18.1° further anticlockwise (200.3° against 218.5°), and Mecca is 7 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Marand (60 km), prays towards 198.4°, 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 Tabriz

• Marand198.4° · 60 km
• Marāgheh, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran200.9° · 77 km
• Ahar202.1° · 81 km
• Urmia197.2° · 122 km
• Mīāndoāb201.1° · 125 km
• Khoy195.9° · 128 km