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You are here: Home > Islam-basics > Religious Duties > Qibla Direction

The correct direction to face for Qibla in USA and Canada

[2:258] Have you noted the one who argued with Abraham about his Lord, though GOD had given him kingship? Abraham said, "My Lord grants life and death." He said, "I grant life and death." Abraham said, "GOD brings the sun from the east, can you bring it from the west?" The disbeliever was stumped. GOD does not guide the wicked.

The Qibla direction from USA and Canada is East to the slight Southeast for the following reasons.

1. We don’t travel towards Kaaba when we stand up to perform salat.

2 . When we stand and face a direction, our straight line of sight initially parallel to the ground goes into space since the earth is round. Thus, whichever direction we face, our line of sight goes into space.

3. We need uniformity in facing a direction to perform salat.

4. The Quran mentions east and west. When east and west are mentioned, the north and south poles are acknowledged as reference points. Without the north and south poles and reference points, east & west are meaningless.

5. The first step the northeast advocates do is to disregard north & south poles as reference points (and then proceed to do calculations such as the shortest distance, etc.)

6. Using the north & south poles as reference points, the Qibla is always east southeast from USA. Anyone can confirm this by looking at the globe and using the north & south poles as reference points. North pole at the top and south pole at the bottom and the equator at your eye level as you look at the globe – Qibla/Mecca will be east southeast from USA/Canada.

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