Qibla direction in Masjed Soleymān

How to face the Qibla in Masjed Soleymān

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 41.1° towards west: the result is the bearing of 221.1°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “south” would be off by more than 40°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Masjed Soleymān.

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

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Masjed Soleymān to Mecca points to 218.8° (south-west), 2.3° away from the correct 221.1°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is not the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

How is the figure of 221.1° obtained? From the coordinates of Masjed Soleymān (31.9364° N, 49.3039° 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 Masjed Soleymān to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,500 km from Masjed Soleymān as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,261 km away. The distance is short enough that many pilgrims from Masjed Soleymān travel to the Hijaz by road.

Clocks in Masjed Soleymān 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 Masjed Soleymān rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Masjed Soleymān

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Masjed Soleymān 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 15:02 local time.

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

Masjed Soleymān compared with other cities

Compared with Tehran, 461 km away, the Qibla in Masjed Soleymān is turned 2.6° further clockwise (221.1° against 218.5°), and Mecca is 447 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Shūshtar (45 km), prays towards 219.3°, a difference of 1.8°.

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 Masjed Soleymān

• Shūshtar219.3° · 45 km
• Īz̄eh223.2° · 55 km
• Ahvāz220.8° · 90 km
• Dezful217.0° · 98 km
• Shahr-e Kord224.7° · 153 km
• Bandar-e Māhshahr224.8° · 154 km