Qibla direction in Sabzawār

How to face the Qibla in Sabzawār

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 38.7° towards south: the result is the bearing of 231.3°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “west” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Sabzawār.

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 Sabzawār, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Sabzawār 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 Sabzawār to Mecca points to 226.5° (south-west), 4.8° away from the correct 231.3°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 2 km longer than 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 231.3° obtained? From the coordinates of Sabzawār (36.2126° N, 57.6819° 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 Sabzawār to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 2,386 km from Sabzawār as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 2,165 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 3 h 18 min, although most pilgrims from Sabzawār connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Sabzawār 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 Sabzawār rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Sabzawār

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Sabzawār 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 15:29 local time.

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

Sabzawār compared with other cities

Compared with Tehran, 566 km away, the Qibla in Sabzawār is turned 12.8° further clockwise (231.3° against 218.5°), and Mecca is 440 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Neyshabur (100 km), prays towards 233.3°, a difference of 2.0°.

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 Sabzawār

• Neyshabur233.3° · 100 km
• Qūchān231.1° · 124 km
• Kāshmar234.7° · 129 km
• Bojnourd228.2° · 144 km
• Mashhad234.6° · 173 km
• Torbat-e Ḩeydarīyeh235.9° · 174 km