Qibla direction in Robāţ Karīm

How to face the Qibla in Robāţ Karīm

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 38.0° towards west: the result is the bearing of 218.0°. 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 Robāţ Karīm.

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 Robāţ Karīm, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Robāţ Karīm 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 Robāţ Karīm to Mecca points to 215.0° (south-west), 3.0° away from the correct 218.0°. 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 218.0° obtained? From the coordinates of Robāţ Karīm (35.4846° N, 51.0829° 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 Robāţ Karīm to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,909 km from Robāţ Karīm as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,647 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 2 h 45 min, although most pilgrims from Robāţ Karīm connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Robāţ Karīm 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 Robāţ Karīm rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Robāţ Karīm

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Robāţ Karīm 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 14:44 local time.

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

Robāţ Karīm compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Tehran (218.5°), and Mecca is 37 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Eslamshahr (16 km), prays towards 218.3°, a difference of 0.3°.

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 Robāţ Karīm

• Eslamshahr218.3° · 16 km
• Shahrīār217.6° · 20 km
• Tehran218.5° · 38 km
• Karaj217.1° · 40 km
• Qarchak219.4° · 45 km
• Nazarabad215.8° · 68 km