ibn Mas’ud

The most reliable method to determine the direction of the Qibla is by looking at the Sun. Every year, because of the revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the inclination of the axis of rotation to the Ecliptic, the Sun is directly ABOVE THE KABAH only two times.

1. May 28 at 9:18 am (GMT) [12:18 pm local Makkah time], and
2. Jul 15 at 9:27 am (GMT) [12:27 pm local Makkah time].

Similarly, the Sun is BELOW THE KABAH (in Makkah) only two times.

1. Jan 13 at 9:29 pm (GMT) [00:29 am local Makkah time], and
2. Nov 28 at 9:09 pm (GMT) [00:09 am local Makkah time].

The direction toward the Kabah can be easily determined by finding the direction towards (or away from) the Sun at the instants when the Sun is ABOVE (or BELOW) the KABAH.

The Qibla direction would be TOWARDS THE SUN, at the instant WHEN THE SUN IS ABOVE THE KABAH. The Qibla direction would be AWAY FROM THE SUN, (in the direction of the SHADOW of a vertical rod) at the instant WHEN THE SUN IS BELOW THE KABAH.

The only obvious requirement is that the Sun should be visible at that instant. Nearly half of the world would be able to see the Sun at these times. The other countries would not be able to see the Sun, because the Sun would be below their local horizon, at those times.

For more details you can visit Dr. Mohib N. Durrani’s website who details his findings of over 8 years on this matter. Dr. Durrani is the National Coordinator (Since 1987), for Astronomical Information for the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Islamic Shura Council of North America, Shariah Scholars Association of North America (SSANA). The algorithms used in most of the qibla direction programs found on the net including the one used in Qiblalocator.com use Dr Durrani’s mathematical formula.