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Find the Qibla From the Sun's Shadow: Two Minutes a Year When Every Shadow Points Away From Mecca

Twice a year the Sun stands straight over the Kaaba, on 27 or 28 May at 09:18 UTC and on 15 or 16 July at 09:27 UTC. At that minute, wherever the Sun is up, an upright stick's shadow points directly away from Mecca, and facing the Sun is facing the Qibla to within a fifth of a degree. The Americas get two more chances in January and November.

The Short Answer

Twice a year the Sun passes straight over the Kaaba. At that minute, anywhere the Sun is up, the direction towards the Sun is the direction of Mecca, and the shadow of an upright stick points directly away from it. You need no compass, no map and no calculation: only a vertical stick, flat ground and a correct clock.

YearFirst pass (UTC)Second pass (UTC)
202628 May, 09:1815 July, 09:27
202728 May, 09:1816 July, 09:27
202827 May, 09:1815 July, 09:27

In Mecca these are 12:18 and 12:27, local noon. In 2027 the Sun is 89.97 and 89.94 degrees up, less than a tenth of a degree from straight overhead. From London to Jakarta, facing the Sun at that minute matches the Qibla to within 0.2 degrees.

Why It Works

The Qibla is the direction of the Kaaba along the shortest path on the globe, the great circle. When the Sun stands straight over one point of the Earth, the direction of the Sun from anywhere else is the great-circle direction towards that point. So when that point is the Kaaba, "towards the Sun" and "towards Mecca" are the same thing.

The Sun can only be straight overhead between the tropics, at latitudes up to 23.4 degrees north or south. Mecca, at 21.4 degrees north, is inside that band. Each year the Sun climbs north towards the June solstice and comes back, and it passes over latitude 21.4 degrees north twice: once in late May on the way up, and once in mid-July on the way down. The two passes are not the same distance from the solstice, because the Sun moves along the sky at different speeds at different times of year. The minute of the pass is the moment of local noon in Mecca, which drifts by about nine minutes between May and July with the equation of time.

The whole world at the minute of the May pass in 2027, with the shadow of an upright stick in many places:

How to Do It

  1. Find a stick, a pole or a door frame that is truly vertical. A plumb line, a weight on a string, is the simplest check; Indonesia's Ministry of Religious Affairs recommends one.
  2. Stand it on flat ground in the sun, or hang the plumb line where its shadow falls on a flat floor.
  3. Set your clock by a reliable source. At the minute in the table, mark the line of the shadow.
  4. The shadow points away from Mecca. The Qibla runs along the shadow line, from its tip back to the foot of the stick and on, towards the Sun.

Timing matters, because the Sun moves about a quarter of a degree across the sky every minute. In London, ten minutes early or late makes the line about 3 degrees wrong, and an hour makes it about 15 degrees wrong. In practice a few minutes either side are good enough to check a room or a prayer mat; for a mosque, use the exact minute.

The Sun must also be high enough for a clear shadow. At the May pass it stands 47 degrees up in London, 68 in Istanbul, 78 in Cairo, 65 in Karachi, 27 in Kuala Lumpur and 19 in Jakarta, where the shadow is long but still sharp.

The Other Side of the World

At 09:18 UTC it is night in the Americas: in New York the Sun is still 2 degrees below the horizon. But the method has a mirror image. Twice a year the Sun passes straight over the point exactly opposite the Kaaba, in the South Pacific south-east of Tahiti. Then the direction away from the Sun is the direction of Mecca, and a stick's shadow points straight towards it.

YearFirst pass over the antipode (UTC)Second pass over the antipode (UTC)
202613 January, 21:2928 November, 21:08
202713 January, 21:2928 November, 21:08
202813 January, 21:2928 November, 21:08

In Mexico City (15:29 and 15:08 local time) the Sun is 33 degrees up and the shadow is sharp. In São Paulo (18:29 and 18:08) it is 5.5 degrees up, and in New York (16:29 and 16:08) only 3 degrees, so the shadow is long and faint and a clear western horizon is needed. In all three the shadow then points to Mecca to within a twentieth of a degree.

The Direction Can Surprise You

Because the Qibla follows the great circle, it is not the direction a flat map suggests. From New York it is 58.5 degrees, north-east, not south-east. From London it is 119.0 degrees, from Istanbul 151.6, from Cairo 136.1, from Tehran 218.4, from Karachi 267.7 and from Jakarta 295.2 degrees. The Sun method gives the great-circle direction automatically, which is the convention used by almost all mosques and Qibla apps today.

An Old Practice That Is Still Used

In Indonesia and Malaysia the two days are announced every year, under the name Rashdul Kiblat (from the Arabic rasd al-qibla, observing the Qibla), and people use them to check the alignment of mosques and homes. The Indonesian ministry's notice for 2026 gave 16:18 Western Indonesia Time on 27 and 28 May, which is the 09:18 UTC pass in the table. Because the Sun's position changes very little from one day to the next near those dates, the day before or after the exact date is also very nearly right, which is why notices often give two days.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it not on the same date every year?

The calendar year is not exactly as long as the Sun's year, and the leap-year cycle shifts the moment of the pass by up to a day. The time of day changes by less than a minute.

Is a compass not easier?

A compass points to magnetic north, which differs from true north by a few degrees in most places and by more than 10 degrees in some, and it is disturbed by steel in buildings. The Sun needs no correction.

Can the Moon do the same?

Yes: the Moon also passes over the Kaaba, a few times a year in most years, and a bright Moon casts a shadow. But its times are irregular and there are years with no passes at all. See when the Moon stands over the Kaaba.

Does the time depend on where I am?

No. The minute is the same for everyone, 09:18 UTC in May and 09:27 UTC in July; only your clock time differs. In 2027 that is 10:18 in London (May) and 10:27 (July), 12:18 and 12:27 in Istanbul and Cairo, 12:48 and 12:57 in Tehran, 14:18 and 14:27 in Karachi, 15:18 and 15:27 in Dhaka, 16:18 and 16:27 in Jakarta, and 17:18 and 17:27 in Kuala Lumpur.

See Also

References

  • Times and positions are computed with the astronomy engine of this site, including refraction. The numbers are reproduced by docs/research/sky-events.mjs and computed by packages/astronomy/src/skyEvents.ts in the Hilal Vision source.
  • Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs, notice for 27 and 28 May 2026, reported by Antara.

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