Qibla direction in Arnhem

How to face the Qibla in Arnhem

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 36.4° towards south: the result is the bearing of 126.4°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “east” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Arnhem.

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 Arnhem, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Arnhem 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 Arnhem to Mecca points to 139.1° (south-east), 12.6° away from the correct 126.4°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 25 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 126.4° obtained? From the coordinates of Arnhem (51.9800° N, 5.9111° 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 Arnhem to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 4,472 km from Arnhem as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,177 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 46 min, although most pilgrims from Arnhem connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Arnhem run 2 hours behind Mecca in winter and 1 hour behind Mecca in summer, because of daylight saving time. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Arnhem rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Arnhem

On 294 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Arnhem 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 09:02 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Arnhem 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 Arnhem: at 11:18 and 11:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Arnhem compared with other cities

Compared with Amsterdam, 82 km away, the Qibla in Arnhem is turned 0.9° further clockwise (126.4° against 125.6°), and Mecca is 82 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Nijmegen (16 km), prays towards 126.2°, a difference of 0.2°.

Across the 22 cities in the Netherlands on this site, the Qibla ranges from 124.6° in The Hague to 128.4° in Groningen, a spread of 3.8°. The difference is small, yet each city should still use its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Netherlands.

Qibla in cities near Arnhem

• Nijmegen126.2° · 16 km
• Apeldoorn126.7° · 26 km
• Amersfoort126.0° · 41 km
• 's-Hertogenbosch125.4° · 52 km
• Utrecht125.6° · 55 km
• Zwolle127.2° · 61 km