Qibla direction in Oaxaca City

How to face the Qibla in Oaxaca City

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 40.5° towards north: the result is the bearing of 49.5°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “east” would be off by more than 40°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Oaxaca 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. 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

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Oaxaca City to Mecca points to 88.1° (east), a full 38.6° away from the true Qibla of 49.5° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 706 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Oaxaca City first heads north-east, and that is the direction to face.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 17.0603° N, 96.7254° W 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 Oaxaca City to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 13,634 km from Oaxaca City as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 13,402 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 16 h 32 min, although most pilgrims from Oaxaca City connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Oaxaca City run 9 hours behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Oaxaca City rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Oaxaca City

On 88 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Oaxaca City while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in July (31 days); for example, on 15 May 2027 it happens at 12:14 local time.

On 276 days the sun stands exactly opposite the Qibla: then the shadow of any vertical object, a pole, a door frame or a plumb line, points straight towards Mecca. This is most frequent in January (31 days), for instance on 1 January 2027 at 15:33.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Oaxaca City (03:18 and 03:27 local time), so they cannot be used here. Instead, on 13 January 2027 at 15:29 and 28 November 2027 at 15:09 the sun is over the point opposite the Kaaba, and every vertical shadow in Oaxaca City points straight to Mecca.

Oaxaca City compared with other cities

Compared with Mexico City, 366 km away, the Qibla in Oaxaca City is turned 2.9° further clockwise (49.5° against 46.6°), and Mecca is 13 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, San Juan Bautista Tuxtla (131 km), prays towards 49.4°, a difference of 0.1°.

Across the 99 cities in Mexico on this site, the Qibla ranges from 25.5° in Rosarito to 54.2° in Chetumal, a spread of 28.7°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Mexico.

Qibla in cities near Oaxaca City

• San Juan Bautista Tuxtla49.4° · 131 km
• Tehuacán48.3° · 172 km
• Orizaba48.4° · 203 km
• Córdoba, Veracruz, Mexico48.5° · 204 km
• Veracruz48.9° · 244 km
• Minatitlán50.5° · 253 km