Qibla direction in Kŭlob

How to face the Qibla in Kŭlob

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 24.0° towards south: the result is the bearing of 246.0°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 24° 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. The simplest check in Kŭlob is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Kŭlob. 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 Kŭlob to Mecca points to 237.5° (south-west), 8.5° away from the correct 246.0°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 10 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 37.9146° N, 69.7845° 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 Kŭlob to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,403 km from Kŭlob as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,216 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h 30 min, although most pilgrims from Kŭlob connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Kŭlob run 2 hours ahead of Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Kŭlob rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Kŭlob

On 278 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Kŭlob 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 15 February 2027 it happens at 17:05 local time.

On 50 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 June (30 days), for instance on 1 June 2027 at 05:34.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Kŭlob: at 14:18 and 14:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Kŭlob compared with other cities

Compared with Dushanbe, 112 km away, the Qibla in Kŭlob is turned 2.2° further clockwise (246.0° against 243.8°), and Mecca is 50 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Kurgan-Tyube (89 km), prays towards 244.9°, a difference of 1.1°.

Among the 7 cities in Tajikistan on this site, Kŭlob has the largest Qibla bearing; the smallest is 242.0° in Istaravshan. Across the country the direction varies by 4.0°.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Tajikistan.

Qibla in cities near Kŭlob

• Kurgan-Tyube244.9° · 89 km
• Dushanbe243.8° · 112 km
• Istaravshan242.0° · 232 km
• Isfara243.7° · 256 km
• Khujand242.2° · 264 km
• Konibodom243.2° · 270 km