Qibla direction in Pittsburgh

How to face the Qibla in Pittsburgh

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 35.6° towards north: the result is the bearing of 54.4°. 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 Pittsburgh.

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 Pittsburgh, aims at its direction as well as he reasonably can. Comparing with the mihrab of a local mosque 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 Pittsburgh to Mecca points to 100.6° (east), a full 46.2° away from the true Qibla of 54.4° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 789 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Pittsburgh first heads north-east, and that is the direction to face.

The value of 54.4° is the direction in which the shortest route from 40.4406° N, 79.9959° 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 Pittsburgh to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 10,745 km from Pittsburgh as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 10,477 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 13 h 08 min, although most pilgrims from Pittsburgh connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Pittsburgh 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 Pittsburgh rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Pittsburgh

From Pittsburgh the sun never rises high in the Qibla direction of 54.4°, so you cannot simply face the sun. The opposite method works instead, as the right-hand column of the table shows.

On 351 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 16:30.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Pittsburgh (05:18 and 05:27 local time), so they cannot be used here. Instead, on 13 January 2027 at 16:29 and 28 November 2027 at 16:09 the sun is over the point opposite the Kaaba, and every vertical shadow in Pittsburgh points straight to Mecca.

Pittsburgh compared with other cities

Compared with Washington D.C., 306 km away, the Qibla in Pittsburgh is turned 2.2° further anticlockwise (54.4° against 56.6°), and Mecca is 111 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Akron (147 km), prays towards 53.3°, a difference of 1.1°.

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 Pittsburgh

• Akron53.3° · 147 km
• Cleveland53.1° · 185 km
• Columbus, Ohio, United States52.3° · 261 km
• Buffalo55.0° · 287 km
• Washington D.C.56.6° · 306 km
• Baltimore56.8° · 316 km