Qibla direction in Al-Musayab

How to face the Qibla in Al-Musayab

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 20.3° towards west: the result is the bearing of 200.3°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at south would leave you about 20° off.

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 Al-Musayab, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Al-Musayab 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

On a flat (Mercator) map, the straight line from Al-Musayab to Mecca points to 199.2°, only 1.1° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 200.3° bearing remains the exact one.

How is the figure of 200.3° obtained? From the coordinates of Al-Musayab (32.7787° N, 44.2901° 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 Al-Musayab to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,337 km from Al-Musayab as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,031 km away. The distance is short enough that many pilgrims from Al-Musayab travel to the Hijaz by road.

Clocks in Al-Musayab run the same time as Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Al-Musayab rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Al-Musayab

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Al-Musayab 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 13:21 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Al-Musayab 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 Al-Musayab: at 12:18 and 12:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Al-Musayab compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Baghdad (199.9°), and Mecca is 62 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Al Hindīyah (27 km), prays towards 200.5°, a difference of 0.1°.

Across the 40 cities in Iraq on this site, the Qibla ranges from 190.9° in Duhok to 224.3° in Al Fāw, a spread of 33.4°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Iraq.

Qibla in cities near Al-Musayab

• Al Hindīyah200.5° · 27 km
• Karbala199.5° · 31 km
• Al Maḩmūdīyah200.2° · 32 km
• Hillah201.4° · 37 km
• Abu Ghraib199.1° · 59 km
• Baghdad199.9° · 63 km