Qibla direction in Īlām

How to face the Qibla in Īlām

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 27.2° towards west: the result is the bearing of 207.2°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at south would leave you about 27° 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 Īlām is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Īlām. 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 Īlām to Mecca points to 205.5°, only 1.7° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 207.2° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 33.6374° N, 46.4227° 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 Īlām to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,505 km from Īlām as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,215 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 2 h 16 min, although most pilgrims from Īlām connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Īlām 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 Īlām rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Īlām

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Īlām 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 14:11 local time.

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

Īlām compared with other cities

Compared with Tehran, 511 km away, the Qibla in Īlām is turned 11.3° further anticlockwise (207.2° against 218.5°), and Mecca is 441 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Kermanshah (96 km), prays towards 208.2°, a difference of 1.0°.

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 Īlām

• Kermanshah208.2° · 96 km
• Khorramabad214.2° · 180 km
• Sanandaj206.2° · 194 km
• Marīvān203.2° · 210 km
• Borūjerd214.6° · 217 km
• Hamadan212.0° · 232 km