Qibla direction in Kuwait City

How to face the Qibla in Kuwait City

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 44.6° towards west: the result is the bearing of 224.6°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “south” would be off by more than 40°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Kuwait City.

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 Kuwait City is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Kuwait City. 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 Kuwait City to Mecca points to 222.8°, only 1.9° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 224.6° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 29.3670° N, 47.9743° 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 Kuwait City to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,203 km from Kuwait City as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 992 km away. The distance is short enough that many pilgrims from Kuwait City travel to the Hijaz by road.

Clocks in Kuwait City 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 Kuwait City rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Kuwait City

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Kuwait City 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 14:52 local time.

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

Kuwait City compared with other cities

The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Al Ahmadi (34 km), prays towards 226.1°, a difference of 1.5°.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Kuwait.

Qibla in cities near Kuwait City

• Al Ahmadi226.1° · 34 km