Qibla direction in Nukus

How to face the Qibla in Nukus

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 44.4° towards west: the result is the bearing of 224.4°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “south” would be off by more than 40°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Nukus.

Scholars agree that someone who can see the Kaaba must face it exactly, while someone far away faces its direction (jihat al-Ka‘bah) as precisely as reasonably possible. The simplest check in Nukus is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Nukus. At home, mark the direction once with tape or a small arrow so the whole family prays the same way.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Nukus to Mecca points to 218.3° (south-west), 6.1° away from the correct 224.4°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 4 km longer than the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 42.4586° N, 59.6058° E to the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E). It is the method used by mosque architects and by every serious Qibla calculator, and it gives one exact answer for each point on Earth.

Distance from Nukus to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 2,977 km from Nukus as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 2,714 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h, although most pilgrims from Nukus connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Nukus run 2 hours ahead of Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Nukus rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Nukus

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Nukus while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in January (31 days); for example, on 1 January 2027 it happens at 16:18 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Nukus during daylight, so the shadow method does not apply here; the left-hand column is the one to use.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Nukus: at 14:18 and 14:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Nukus compared with other cities

Compared with Tashkent, 806 km away, the Qibla in Nukus is turned 15.9° further anticlockwise (224.4° against 240.3°), and Mecca is 551 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Urgench (132 km), prays towards 227.4°, a difference of 3.0°.

Among the 19 cities in Uzbekistan on this site, Nukus has the smallest Qibla bearing; the largest is 244.7° in Andijan. Across the country the direction varies by 20.4°.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Uzbekistan.

Qibla in cities near Nukus

• Urgench227.4° · 132 km
• Khiva227.2° · 135 km
• Bukhara236.1° · 503 km
• Navoiy236.9° · 550 km
• Qarshi239.4° · 657 km
• Samarkand239.8° · 691 km