Qibla direction in Shahrud

How to face the Qibla in Shahrud

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 44.6° towards south: the result is the bearing of 225.4°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “west” would be off by more than 40°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Shahrud.

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 Shahrud, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Shahrud 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 Shahrud to Mecca points to 221.4° (south-west), 4.1° away from the correct 225.4°. 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 225.4° obtained? From the coordinates of Shahrud (36.4182° N, 54.9763° 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 Shahrud to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 2,220 km from Shahrud as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,979 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 3 h 07 min, although most pilgrims from Shahrud connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Shahrud 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 Shahrud rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Shahrud

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Shahrud 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 15:07 local time.

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

Shahrud compared with other cities

Compared with Tehran, 330 km away, the Qibla in Shahrud is turned 7.0° further clockwise (225.4° against 218.5°), and Mecca is 274 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Gorgan (67 km), prays towards 223.5°, 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 Shahrud

• Gorgan223.5° · 67 km
• Gonbad-e Kāvūs224.3° · 94 km
• Semnan223.6° · 170 km
• Sari220.8° · 172 km
• Qā’em Shahr220.6° · 189 km
• Babol220.0° · 206 km