Qibla direction in Mary

How to face the Qibla in Mary

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 34.2° towards south: the result is the bearing of 235.8°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “west” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Mary.

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 Mary, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. A nearby mosque is a handy reference, because its 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

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Mary to Mecca points to 229.7° (south-west), 6.1° away from the correct 235.8°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 4 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.

How is the figure of 235.8° obtained? From the coordinates of Mary (37.5938° N, 61.8303° 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 Mary to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 2,774 km from Mary as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 2,561 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 3 h 46 min, although most pilgrims from Mary connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Mary 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 Mary rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Mary

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Mary 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 17:10 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Mary 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 Mary: at 14:18 and 14:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Mary compared with other cities

Compared with Ashgabat, 306 km away, the Qibla in Mary is turned 6.5° further clockwise (235.8° against 229.3°), and Mecca is 217 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Turkmenabat (224 km), prays towards 235.9°, a difference of 0.1°.

Across the 4 cities in Turkmenistan on this site, the Qibla ranges from 225.9° in Daşoguz to 235.9° in Turkmenabat, a spread of 10.1°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Turkmenistan.

Qibla in cities near Mary

• Turkmenabat235.9° · 224 km
• Ashgabat229.3° · 306 km
• Daşoguz225.9° · 498 km