Qibla direction in Leeds

How to face the Qibla in Leeds

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 29.5° towards south: the result is the bearing of 119.5°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 29° 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 Leeds is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Leeds. 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

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Leeds to Mecca points to 135.5° (south-east), a full 16.0° away from the true Qibla of 119.5° (south-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 44 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Leeds first heads south-east, and that is the direction to face.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 53.7965° N, 1.5479° W 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 Leeds to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 5,002 km from Leeds as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,710 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 6 h 23 min, although most pilgrims from Leeds connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Leeds run 3 hours behind Mecca in winter and 2 hours behind 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 Leeds rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Leeds

On 263 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Leeds 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 08:09 local time.

On 63 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 20:28.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Leeds: at 10:18 and 10:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Leeds compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in London, England, United Kingdom (119.0°), and Mecca is 208 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Huddersfield (23 km), prays towards 119.1°, a difference of 0.4°.

Across the 75 cities in the United Kingdom on this site, the Qibla ranges from 113.7° in Plymouth, England, United Kingdom to 121.7° in Aberdeen, a spread of 8.0°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for United Kingdom.

Qibla in cities near Leeds

• Huddersfield119.1° · 23 km
• York120.1° · 35 km
• Doncaster119.7° · 41 km
• Burnley118.7° · 45 km
• Sheffield119.2° · 46 km
• Manchester, England, United Kingdom118.5° · 57 km