Qibla direction in Taraz

How to face the Qibla in Taraz

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 29.2° towards south: the result is the bearing of 240.8°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 29° 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 Taraz, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Taraz 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 Taraz to Mecca points to 230.9° (south-west), 9.9° away from the correct 240.8°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 14 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 240.8° obtained? From the coordinates of Taraz (42.8980° N, 71.3733° 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 Taraz to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,772 km from Taraz as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,549 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h 56 min, although most pilgrims from Taraz connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Taraz 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 Taraz rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Taraz

On 287 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Taraz 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 16:50 local time.

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

Taraz compared with other cities

Compared with Astana, 921 km away, the Qibla in Taraz is turned 9.3° further clockwise (240.8° against 231.5°), and Mecca is 520 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Shymkent (159 km), prays towards 239.4°, a difference of 1.4°.

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 Taraz

• Shymkent239.4° · 159 km
• Turkestan236.3° · 257 km
• Almaty246.6° · 451 km
• Kyzylorda230.5° · 518 km
• Taldykorgan246.1° · 608 km
• Zhezqazghan230.1° · 615 km