Qibla direction in Bisha

How to face the Qibla in Bisha

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 29.2° towards north: the result is the bearing of 299.2°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 29° off.

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 Bisha to Mecca points to 298.7°, only 0.5° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 299.2° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 20.0005° N, 42.6052° 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 Bisha to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 329 km from Bisha as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 584 km away. The distance is short enough that many pilgrims from Bisha travel to the Hijaz by road.

Clocks in Bisha 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 Bisha rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Bisha

On 64 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Bisha while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in June (30 days); for example, on 1 June 2027 it happens at 12:24 local time.

On 300 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 07:37.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Bisha: at 12:18 and 12:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Bisha compared with other cities

Compared with Riyadh, 671 km away, the Qibla in Bisha is turned 55.0° further clockwise (299.2° against 244.2°), and Mecca is 464 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Sabt Al Alaya (82 km), prays towards 313.0°, a difference of 13.9°.

Across the 27 cities in Saudi Arabia on this site, the Qibla ranges from 96.4° in Jeddah to 330.8° in Jizan, a spread of 234.5°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Saudi Arabia.

Qibla in cities near Bisha

• Sabt Al Alaya313.0° · 82 km
• Khamis Mushait319.3° · 190 km
• Abhā322.3° · 199 km
• Ta'if285.6° · 268 km
• Şabyā328.7° · 317 km
• Najran314.8° · 322 km