Qibla direction in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

How to face the Qibla in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 30.1° towards north: the result is the bearing of 59.9°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “east” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States.

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 Worcester, Massachusetts, United States, 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

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Worcester, Massachusetts, United States to Mecca points to 102.5° (east), a full 42.6° away from the true Qibla of 59.9° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 634 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Worcester, Massachusetts, United States first heads north-east, and that is the direction to face.

How is the figure of 59.9° obtained? From the coordinates of Worcester, Massachusetts, United States (42.2626° N, 71.8023° W) 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 Worcester, Massachusetts, United States to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 10,060 km from Worcester, Massachusetts, United States as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 9,800 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 12 h 20 min, although most pilgrims from Worcester, Massachusetts, United States connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States run 8 hours behind Mecca in winter and 7 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 Worcester, Massachusetts, United States rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

From Worcester, Massachusetts, United States the sun never rises high in the Qibla direction of 59.9°, so you cannot simply face the sun. The opposite method works instead, as the right-hand column of the table shows.

On 296 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 March (31 days), for instance on 1 February 2027 at 16:17.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States (05:18 and 05:27 local time), so they cannot be used here.

Worcester, Massachusetts, United States compared with other cities

Compared with Washington D.C., 579 km away, the Qibla in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States is turned 3.4° further clockwise (59.9° against 56.6°), and Mecca is 573 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Lowell (57 km), prays towards 60.3°, a difference of 0.3°.

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 Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

• Lowell60.3° · 57 km
• Providence60.2° · 58 km
• Boston60.4° · 62 km
• Springfield, Massachusetts, United States59.4° · 67 km
• Manchester, New Hampshire, United States60.2° · 86 km
• Hartford59.3° · 92 km