Qibla direction in St Louis

How to face the Qibla in St Louis

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 42.8° towards north: the result is the bearing of 47.2°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “east” would be off by more than 40°, which is why a measured bearing matters in St Louis.

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 St Louis, aims at its direction as well as he reasonably can. Comparing with the mihrab of one of the mosques of St Louis 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 St Louis to Mecca points to 98.7° (east), a full 51.5° away from the true Qibla of 47.2° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 1,036 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from St Louis first heads north-east, and that is the direction to face.

The value of 47.2° is the direction in which the shortest route from 38.6273° N, 90.1979° 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 St Louis to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 11,550 km from St Louis as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 11,269 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 14 h 05 min, although most pilgrims from St Louis connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in St Louis 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 St Louis rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in St Louis

From St Louis the sun never rises high in the Qibla direction of 47.2°, 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 15:30.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in St Louis (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 St Louis points straight to Mecca.

St Louis compared with other cities

Compared with Washington D.C., 1,141 km away, the Qibla in St Louis is turned 9.3° further anticlockwise (47.2° against 56.6°), and Mecca is 916 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Springfield, Illinois, United States (139 km), prays towards 47.5°, 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 St Louis

• Springfield, Illinois, United States47.5° · 139 km
• Columbia, Missouri, United States45.6° · 189 km
• Peoria, Illinois, United States47.4° · 236 km
• Evansville49.3° · 242 km
• Springfield, Missouri, United States45.2° · 314 km
• Davenport46.5° · 324 km