Qibla direction in Kamoke

How to face the Qibla in Kamoke

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 10.4° towards south: the result is the bearing of 259.6°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 10° 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 Kamoke, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Kamoke 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 Kamoke to Mecca points to 251.0° (west), 8.5° away from the correct 259.6°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 11 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 259.6° obtained? From the coordinates of Kamoke (31.9753° N, 74.2230° 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 Kamoke to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,595 km from Kamoke as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,476 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h 44 min, although most pilgrims from Kamoke connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Kamoke 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 Kamoke rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Kamoke

On 222 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Kamoke while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in May (31 days); for example, on 15 March 2027 it happens at 17:08 local time.

On 127 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 May (31 days), for instance on 1 May 2027 at 06:19.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Kamoke: at 14:18 and 14:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Kamoke compared with other cities

Compared with Islamabad, 223 km away, the Qibla in Kamoke is turned 3.7° further clockwise (259.6° against 255.8°), and Mecca is 66 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Muridke (19 km), prays towards 259.9°, a difference of 0.3°.

Across the 125 cities in Pakistan on this site, the Qibla ranges from 253.6° in Mingora to 269.0° in Badin, a spread of 15.5°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Pakistan.

Qibla in cities near Kamoke

• Muridke259.9° · 19 km
• Gujranwala259.2° · 20 km
• Shekhupura259.8° · 37 km
• Lahore260.3° · 48 km
• Hafizabad259.0° · 52 km
• Pasrur259.5° · 52 km