Qibla direction in Kilis

How to face the Qibla in Kilis

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 9.5° towards east: the result is the bearing of 170.5°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at south would leave you about 9° 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 Kilis is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Kilis. 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 Kilis to Mecca points to 171.2°, only 0.7° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 170.5° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 36.7161° N, 37.1150° 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 Kilis to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,721 km from Kilis as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,383 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 2 h 31 min, although most pilgrims from Kilis connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Kilis 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 Kilis rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Kilis

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Kilis 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 11:59 local time.

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

Kilis compared with other cities

Compared with Ankara, 515 km away, the Qibla in Kilis is turned 10.4° further clockwise (170.5° against 160.1°), and Mecca is 440 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Gaziantep (45 km), prays towards 171.6°, a difference of 1.1°.

Across the 85 cities in Türkiye on this site, the Qibla ranges from 143.7° in Izmir to 192.2° in Iğdır, a spread of 48.6°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Türkiye.

Qibla in cities near Kilis

• Gaziantep171.6° · 45 km
• İskenderun167.2° · 85 km
• Osmaniye167.8° · 87 km
• Kahramanmaraş170.4° · 98 km
• Antakya166.8° · 103 km
• Arsuz166.1° · 114 km