Qibla direction in Rochester, Minnesota, United States

How to face the Qibla in Rochester, Minnesota, United States

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 44.6° towards east: the result is the bearing of 44.6°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “north” would be off by more than 40°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Rochester, Minnesota, 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 Rochester, Minnesota, 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 Rochester, Minnesota, United States to Mecca points to 101.6° (east), a full 57.0° away from the true Qibla of 44.6° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 1,215 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Rochester, Minnesota, United States first heads north-east, and that is the direction to face.

How is the figure of 44.6° obtained? From the coordinates of Rochester, Minnesota, United States (44.0216° N, 92.4699° 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 Rochester, Minnesota, United States to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 11,269 km from Rochester, Minnesota, United States as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 10,972 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 13 h 45 min, although most pilgrims from Rochester, Minnesota, United States connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Rochester, Minnesota, United States run 9 hours behind Mecca in winter and 8 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 Rochester, Minnesota, United States rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Rochester, Minnesota, United States

From Rochester, Minnesota, United States the sun never rises high in the Qibla direction of 44.6°, 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 15:29.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Rochester, Minnesota, United States (04:18 and 04:27 local time), so they cannot be used here. Instead, on 13 January 2027 at 15:29 and 28 November 2027 at 15:09 the sun is over the point opposite the Kaaba, and every vertical shadow in Rochester, Minnesota, United States points straight to Mecca.

Rochester, Minnesota, United States compared with other cities

Compared with Washington D.C., 1,404 km away, the Qibla in Rochester, Minnesota, United States is turned 12.0° further anticlockwise (44.6° against 56.6°), and Mecca is 636 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Minneapolis (124 km), prays towards 43.8°, a difference of 0.8°.

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 Rochester, Minnesota, United States

• Minneapolis43.8° · 124 km
• Cedar Rapids45.6° · 234 km
• Madison47.2° · 269 km
• Des Moines44.1° · 285 km
• Davenport46.5° · 318 km
• Rockford47.5° · 336 km