Qibla direction in Poltava

How to face the Qibla in Poltava

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 10.3° towards east: the result is the bearing of 169.7°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at south would leave you about 10° 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. If a mosque is nearby, its mihrab and prayer lines are the easiest reference, since they were set when the building was laid out. 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 Poltava to Mecca points to 171.5°, only 1.8° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 169.7° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 49.5893° N, 34.5537° 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 Poltava to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,166 km from Poltava as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 2,828 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h 14 min, although most pilgrims from Poltava connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Poltava run 1 hour behind Mecca in winter and the same time as 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 Poltava rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Poltava

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Poltava 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 11:02 local time.

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

Poltava compared with other cities

Compared with Kyiv, 304 km away, the Qibla in Poltava is turned 7.2° further clockwise (169.7° against 162.5°), and Mecca is 163 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Kremenchuk (102 km), prays towards 167.2°, a difference of 2.4°.

Across the 40 cities in Ukraine on this site, the Qibla ranges from 146.6° in Uzhhorod to 178.9° in Luhansk, a spread of 32.4°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Ukraine.

Qibla in cities near Poltava

• Kremenchuk167.2° · 102 km
• Kamyanske169.4° · 119 km
• Kharkiv173.1° · 130 km
• Dnipro170.3° · 130 km
• Sumy170.5° · 149 km
• Pavlohrad171.9° · 152 km