Qibla direction in Al Bāb

How to face the Qibla in Al Bāb

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 8.3° towards east: the result is the bearing of 171.7°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at south would leave you about 8° 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 Al Bāb, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Al Bāb 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 Al Bāb to Mecca points to 172.3°, only 0.6° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 171.7° bearing remains the exact one.

How is the figure of 171.7° obtained? From the coordinates of Al Bāb (36.3705° N, 37.5157° 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 Al Bāb to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,677 km from Al Bāb as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,339 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 2 h 28 min, although most pilgrims from Al Bāb connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Al Bāb 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 Al Bāb rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Al Bāb

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Al Bāb 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 12:02 local time.

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

Al Bāb compared with other cities

Compared with Damascus, 337 km away, the Qibla in Al Bāb is turned 7.1° further clockwise (171.7° against 164.6°), and Mecca is 289 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Aleppo (37 km), prays towards 170.3°, a difference of 1.4°.

Across the 12 cities in Syria on this site, the Qibla ranges from 164.6° in Tartus to 184.8° in Al-Qamishli, a spread of 20.3°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Syria.

Qibla in cities near Al Bāb

• Aleppo170.3° · 37 km
• Idlib168.3° · 93 km
• Raqqa177.0° · 142 km
• Hama168.1° · 154 km
• Latakia164.9° · 181 km
• Homs167.6° · 197 km