Qibla direction in An Nu‘mānīyah

How to face the Qibla in An Nu‘mānīyah

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 25.4° towards west: the result is the bearing of 205.4°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at south would leave you about 25° off.

Scholars agree that someone who can see the Kaaba must face it exactly, while someone far away faces its direction (jihat al-Ka‘bah) as precisely as reasonably possible. If a mosque is nearby, its mihrab and prayer lines are the easiest reference, since they were set when the building was laid out. At home, mark the direction once with tape or a small arrow so the whole family prays the same way.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

On a flat (Mercator) map, the straight line from An Nu‘mānīyah to Mecca points to 204.0°, only 1.4° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 205.4° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 32.5562° N, 45.4129° E to the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E). It is the method used by mosque architects and by every serious Qibla calculator, and it gives one exact answer for each point on Earth.

Distance from An Nu‘mānīyah to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,355 km from An Nu‘mānīyah as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,063 km away. The distance is short enough that many pilgrims from An Nu‘mānīyah travel to the Hijaz by road.

Clocks in An Nu‘mānīyah 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 An Nu‘mānīyah rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in An Nu‘mānīyah

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of An Nu‘mānīyah 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 13:37 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of An Nu‘mānīyah 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 An Nu‘mānīyah: at 12:18 and 12:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

An Nu‘mānīyah compared with other cities

Compared with Baghdad, 129 km away, the Qibla in An Nu‘mānīyah is turned 5.5° further clockwise (205.4° against 199.9°), and Mecca is 44 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Kut (38 km), prays towards 207.1°, a difference of 1.7°.

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 An Nu‘mānīyah

• Kut207.1° · 38 km
• Al Diwaniyah204.5° · 78 km
• Hillah201.4° · 94 km
• Qal‘at Sukkar209.6° · 99 km
• Al-Musayab200.3° · 108 km
• Al Hindīyah200.5° · 111 km