Qibla direction in Olmaliq

How to face the Qibla in Olmaliq

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 28.6° towards south: the result is the bearing of 241.4°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 29° off.

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 Olmaliq, 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

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Olmaliq to Mecca points to 232.5° (south-west), 8.9° away from the correct 241.4°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 11 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.

How is the figure of 241.4° obtained? From the coordinates of Olmaliq (40.8447° N, 69.5983° E) 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 Olmaliq to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,533 km from Olmaliq as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,320 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h 39 min, although most pilgrims from Olmaliq connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Olmaliq 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 Olmaliq rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Olmaliq

On 297 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Olmaliq while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in March (31 days); for example, on 1 February 2027 it happens at 16:59 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Olmaliq 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 Olmaliq: at 14:18 and 14:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Olmaliq compared with other cities

Compared with Tashkent, 57 km away, the Qibla in Olmaliq is turned 1.1° further clockwise (241.4° against 240.3°), and Mecca is 5 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Angren (50 km), prays towards 241.8°, a difference of 0.4°.

Across the 19 cities in Uzbekistan on this site, the Qibla ranges from 224.4° in Nukus to 244.7° in Andijan, a spread of 20.4°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Uzbekistan.

Qibla in cities near Olmaliq

• Angren241.8° · 50 km
• Tashkent240.3° · 57 km
• Chirchiq240.5° · 69 km
• Kokand243.5° · 119 km
• Chust243.1° · 139 km
• Jizzakh240.2° · 169 km