Qibla direction in Basel

How to face the Qibla in Basel

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 34.0° towards south: the result is the bearing of 124.0°. 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 Basel.

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. The simplest check in Basel is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Basel. 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 Basel to Mecca points to 135.0° (south-east), 11.1° away from the correct 124.0°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 18 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 47.5584° N, 7.5733° 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 Basel to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 4,091 km from Basel as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,811 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 19 min, although most pilgrims from Basel connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Basel 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 Basel rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Basel

On 301 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Basel 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 08:45 local time.

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

Basel compared with other cities

Compared with Bern, 69 km away, the Qibla in Basel is turned 0.8° further clockwise (124.0° against 123.1°), and Mecca is 30 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Bern (69 km), prays towards 123.1°, a difference of 0.8°.

Across the 6 cities in Switzerland on this site, the Qibla ranges from 120.7° in Geneva to 125.3° in Winterthur, a spread of 4.7°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Switzerland.

Qibla in cities near Basel

• Bern123.1° · 69 km
• Zurich125.0° · 76 km
• Winterthur125.3° · 87 km
• Lausanne121.6° · 136 km
• Geneva120.7° · 186 km