Qibla direction in Arak

How to face the Qibla in Arak

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 37.0° towards west: the result is the bearing of 217.0°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “south” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Arak.

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 Arak, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Arak 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 Arak to Mecca points to 214.5° (south-west), 2.5° away from the correct 217.0°. 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 217.0° obtained? From the coordinates of Arak (34.0949° N, 49.6981° 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 Arak to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,709 km from Arak as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,449 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 2 h 31 min, although most pilgrims from Arak connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Arak 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 Arak rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Arak

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Arak 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 14:43 local time.

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

Arak compared with other cities

Compared with Tehran, 237 km away, the Qibla in Arak is turned 1.5° further anticlockwise (217.0° against 218.5°), and Mecca is 237 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Malāyer (84 km), prays towards 213.9°, a difference of 3.1°.

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 Arak

• Malāyer213.9° · 84 km
• Dorūd216.4° · 89 km
• Borūjerd214.6° · 90 km
• Sāveh217.0° · 119 km
• Qom219.2° · 124 km
• Hamadan212.0° · 134 km