Qibla direction in Ta'if

How to face the Qibla in Ta'if

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 15.6° towards north: the result is the bearing of 285.6°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 16° 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 Ta'if, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Ta'if 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

On a flat (Mercator) map, the straight line from Ta'if to Mecca points to 285.5°, only 0.1° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 285.6° bearing remains the exact one.

How is the figure of 285.6° obtained? From the coordinates of Ta'if (21.2703° N, 40.4158° 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 Ta'if to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 63 km from Ta'if as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 365 km away. The distance is short enough that many pilgrims from Ta'if travel to the Hijaz by road.

Clocks in Ta'if 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 Ta'if rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Ta'if

On 97 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Ta'if while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in July (31 days); for example, on 15 May 2027 it happens at 17:48 local time.

On 204 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 March (31 days), for instance on 15 February 2027 at 07:13.

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

Ta'if compared with other cities

Compared with Riyadh, 749 km away, the Qibla in Ta'if is turned 41.4° further clockwise (285.6° against 244.2°), and Mecca is 730 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Mecca (64 km), prays towards 172.6°, a difference of 113.0°.

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 Ta'if

• Mecca172.6° · 64 km
• Jeddah96.4° · 130 km
• Sabt Al Alaya313.0° · 248 km
• Bisha299.2° · 268 km
• Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah176.3° · 365 km
• Yanbu148.3° · 396 km