Qibla direction in Phoenix

How to face the Qibla in Phoenix

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 30.1° towards east: the result is the bearing of 30.1°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “north” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Phoenix.

The scholars distinguish two cases: the one who sees the Kaaba aims at the building itself, while the one who cannot see it, as anywhere in Phoenix, aims at its direction as well as he reasonably can. Comparing with the mihrab of one of the mosques of Phoenix is a quick way to confirm the result. If you travel or move house, check the angle again, since it changes from place to place.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Phoenix to Mecca points to 95.1° (east), a full 65.0° away from the true Qibla of 30.1° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 1,783 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Phoenix first heads north-east, and that is the direction to face.

The value of 30.1° is the direction in which the shortest route from 33.4484° N, 112.0740° W sets off towards the Kaaba at 21.4225° N, 39.8262° E. Every accurate Qibla calculator, and the plans of well-oriented mosques, arrive at the same angle for this point.

Distance from Phoenix to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 13,225 km from Phoenix as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 12,912 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 16 h 04 min, although most pilgrims from Phoenix connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Phoenix run 10 hours behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Phoenix rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Phoenix

From Phoenix the sun never rises high in the Qibla direction of 30.1°, so you cannot simply face the sun. The opposite method works instead, as the right-hand column of the table shows.

On 365 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 January (31 days), for instance on 1 January 2027 at 14:28.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Phoenix (02:18 and 02:27 local time), so they cannot be used here. Instead, on 13 January 2027 at 14:29 and 28 November 2027 at 14:09 the sun is over the point opposite the Kaaba, and every vertical shadow in Phoenix points straight to Mecca.

Phoenix compared with other cities

Compared with Washington D.C., 3,183 km away, the Qibla in Phoenix is turned 26.5° further anticlockwise (30.1° against 56.6°), and Mecca is 2,592 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Peoria, Arizona, United States (21 km), prays towards 29.9°, a difference of 0.2°.

Across the 244 cities in the United States on this site, the Qibla ranges from 17.2° in Hillsboro to 350.9° in Anchorage, a spread of 333.7°. 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 States.

Qibla in cities near Phoenix

• Peoria, Arizona, United States29.9° · 21 km
• Mesa30.3° · 24 km
• Tucson31.5° · 173 km
• Henderson26.6° · 392 km
• Enterprise26.4° · 407 km
• Las Vegas26.4° · 412 km