Qibla direction in Sanandaj

How to face the Qibla in Sanandaj

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 26.2° towards west: the result is the bearing of 206.2°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at south would leave you about 26° 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 Sanandaj is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Sanandaj. 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 Sanandaj to Mecca points to 204.3°, only 1.9° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 206.2° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 35.3150° N, 46.9988° 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 Sanandaj to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,695 km from Sanandaj as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,400 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 2 h 30 min, although most pilgrims from Sanandaj connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Sanandaj 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 Sanandaj rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Sanandaj

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Sanandaj 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 14:07 local time.

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

Sanandaj compared with other cities

Compared with Tehran, 403 km away, the Qibla in Sanandaj is turned 12.2° further anticlockwise (206.2° against 218.5°), and Mecca is 251 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Marīvān (77 km), prays towards 203.2°, a difference of 3.0°.

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 Sanandaj

• Marīvān203.2° · 77 km
• Kermanshah208.2° · 111 km
• Saqqez202.5° · 123 km
• Bāneh201.6° · 126 km
• Hamadan212.0° · 149 km
• Būkān201.9° · 152 km