Qibla direction in Qom

How to face the Qibla in Qom

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 39.2° towards west: the result is the bearing of 219.2°. 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 Qom.

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 Qom, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Qom 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 Qom to Mecca points to 216.3° (south-west), 2.9° away from the correct 219.2°. 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 219.2° obtained? From the coordinates of Qom (34.6401° N, 50.8764° 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 Qom to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,824 km from Qom as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,568 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 2 h 39 min, although most pilgrims from Qom connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Qom 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 Qom rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Qom

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Qom 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 14:49 local time.

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

Qom compared with other cities

Compared with Tehran, 127 km away, the Qibla in Qom is turned 0.7° further clockwise (219.2° against 218.5°), and Mecca is 122 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Sāveh (64 km), prays towards 217.0°, a difference of 2.2°.

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 Qom

• Sāveh217.0° · 64 km
• Kashan222.1° · 89 km
• Robāţ Karīm218.0° · 96 km
• Eslamshahr218.3° · 107 km
• Qarchak219.4° · 108 km
• Shahrīār217.6° · 114 km