Basic navigation: finding Qiblah direction using Sun

{ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ ٱلَّيلَ وَٱلْنَّهَارَ وَٱلشَّمْسَ وَٱلْقَمَرَ وَٱلْنُّجُومُ مُسَخَّرَاتٌ بِأَمْرِهِ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ }

"And He has subjected for you the night and day and the sun and moon, and the stars are subjected by His command. Indeed in that are signs for a people who reason." Surat An-Naĥl (The Bee) [16:16}

The following page would help find our Qiblah direction using some simple and basic knowledge. Every Muslim and Muslimah should be able to tell the 4 directions (North, South, East, West) at any moment of the day, or the night without the need of any compass or GPS. There is nothing difficult in finding directions and all science Come from Allah, Who Created the Stars, Moon and Sun for us to make use of them.


The directions are referred to North, South, East and West. We must know, according to the place/ country where we live, the direction of Qiblah. Muslims in the U.S. face Eastwards for Mekkah, people in Muscat, Oman, must face West, People in Azerbaijan would face South etc. The issue is to face that direction using the Sun and this is what the following page would help us with...


Fact 1: Sun indicates East when it rises
Fact 2: Sun indicates West when it sets
Fact 3: Sun indicates South at midday (for people in Southern Hemisphere, Sun indicates North at midday)
Fact 4: Sun travels from East to West via the South. The people in Southern Hemisphere would see the Sun travel from East to West, but via the North.


If you face any of the cardinal points (N,S,E,W), then you could tell the 3 other directions easily..

Say I face the Sun when it rises, then I am facing East.
My back is towards West.
My right side = South. 
My left hand side = North

If you face any direction, then you could tell the other 3. ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW IS ONE DIRECTION ONLY, and the rest could be deducted from that one...That is exactly what a compass would do, it would always indicate one direction, North, then you would deduct the 3 other directions  based on the finding of the North position.

Fact 1: Sun position at sunrise = East (click on image for larger view)

Fact 2: Sun position at sunset = West (click on image for larger view)

Fact 3: Sun position at midday = South (click on image for larger view)

In the picture above, the 3 other directions could then be easily deducted: ahead of me is West, on my right is North and behind me is East. If I am in Malaysia, I know that Qiblah direction is towards West, I would then be praying towards the sea to be facing Qiblah.

So these are the basic navigation aids that every Muslim and Muslimah should know, we should never get lost if we know the basic movements of the Sun and Moon....Make sure you teach your children about these as soon as they can understand the concepts

My other entries will describe night navigation using the Moon, and stars. We will also look into some more advanced navigation where we have no Sun visible (cloudy days/ inside Jungle) and yet, still be able to have a rough indication on our directions...