Qibla direction in Nijmegen

How to face the Qibla in Nijmegen

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 36.2° towards south: the result is the bearing of 126.2°. 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 Nijmegen.

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

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Nijmegen to Mecca points to 138.9° (south-east), 12.6° away from the correct 126.2°. 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.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 51.8425° N, 5.8528° 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 Nijmegen to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 4,466 km from Nijmegen as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,171 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 45 min, although most pilgrims from Nijmegen connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Nijmegen 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 Nijmegen rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Nijmegen

On 291 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Nijmegen 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 09:01 local time.

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

Nijmegen compared with other cities

Compared with Amsterdam, 88 km away, the Qibla in Nijmegen is turned 0.7° further clockwise (126.2° against 125.6°), and Mecca is 88 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Arnhem (16 km), prays towards 126.4°, 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 Nijmegen

• Arnhem126.4° · 16 km
• 's-Hertogenbosch125.4° · 41 km
• Apeldoorn126.7° · 42 km
• Amersfoort126.0° · 47 km
• Eindhoven125.4° · 52 km
• Venlo126.2° · 57 km