Qibla direction in Astana

How to face the Qibla in Astana

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 38.5° towards south: the result is the bearing of 231.5°. 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 Astana.

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. The simplest check in Astana is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Astana. 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

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Astana to Mecca points to 219.9° (south-west), 11.6° away from the correct 231.5°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 20 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.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 51.1801° N, 71.4460° 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 Astana to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 4,292 km from Astana as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,020 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 33 min, although most pilgrims from Astana connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Astana run 2 hours ahead of Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Astana rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Astana

On 303 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Astana while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in March (31 days); for example, on 1 February 2027 it happens at 16:05 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Astana 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 Astana: at 14:18 and 14:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Astana compared with other cities

The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Temirtau (165 km), prays towards 234.5°, a difference of 3.0°.

Across the 23 cities in Kazakhstan on this site, the Qibla ranges from 201.2° in Oral to 246.6° in Almaty, a spread of 45.4°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Kazakhstan.

Qibla in cities near Astana

• Temirtau234.5° · 165 km
• Karaganda234.9° · 193 km
• Kokshetau226.8° · 273 km
• Ekibastuz235.7° · 275 km
• Pavlodar237.1° · 399 km
• Petropavl225.1° · 438 km