Qibla direction in Rostov-on-Don

How to face the Qibla in Rostov-on-Don

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 0.3° towards east: the result is the bearing of 179.7°. The direction is close to due south, which makes it easy to remember.

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

On a flat (Mercator) map, the straight line from Rostov-on-Don to Mecca points to 179.8°, only 0.0° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 179.7° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 47.2200° N, 39.7077° 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 Rostov-on-Don to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 2,869 km from Rostov-on-Don as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 2,530 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 3 h 52 min, although most pilgrims from Rostov-on-Don connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Rostov-on-Don 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 Rostov-on-Don rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Rostov-on-Don

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Rostov-on-Don 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 12:24 local time.

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

Rostov-on-Don compared with other cities

Compared with Moscow, 960 km away, the Qibla in Rostov-on-Don is turned 3.4° further clockwise (179.7° against 176.4°), and Mecca is 953 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Novocherkassk (37 km), prays towards 180.6°, a difference of 0.8°.

Across the 158 cities in Russia on this site, the Qibla ranges from 148.7° in Kaliningrad to 305.3° in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, a spread of 156.6°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Russia.

Qibla in cities near Rostov-on-Don

• Novocherkassk180.6° · 37 km
• Taganrog178.0° · 61 km
• Shakhty180.8° · 67 km
• Volgodonsk184.9° · 187 km
• Krasnodar178.0° · 248 km
• Armavir183.0° · 270 km