بِسْــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Except for those of us who are still intimate enough with the beautiful signs of nature such as the Sun and the night stars (a sad rarity indeed of our "civilised" times!), most of us turn to our compasses – usually that of our smartphones – to help us find the qiblah direction. But are you doing it correctly?
One factor many people ignore when determining the qiblah direction with their phones is the fact that Earth has in fact two norths: a true north and a magnetic north. True north (a.k.a. geographic north) is the physical highest point on Planet Earth's surface, the geographic north pole, where the Earth's rotational axis meets the planet's surface – 0° N. Magnetic north, on the other hand, is the north pole of the Earth's magnetic axis. Now the Earth's magnetic axis isn't exactly aligned with the Earth's rotational axis, and so as a result, magnetic north is angled slightly away from true north. Exactly how much magnetic north deviates from true north depends on where you are in the world and is described by the term "magnetic declination". And because the Earth's magnetic axis is continuously deviating ever-so-slighty away from Earth's rotational axis, the magnetic declination at any given location is likewise constantly changing.
So how does this affect your average Adam who's trying to figure out where the qiblah is using his compass? Well, your typical compass is aligned to magnetic north. However, your typical qiblah direction bearings are usually given in relation to true north. As such, if the Qiblah in your part of the world is at, say 277° (WNW), chances are that pointing your compass to 277° won't give you the accurate qiblah reading, as your compass is aligned to magnetic north, while the qiblah bearings that you're relying upon are based on true north.
Therefore, in order to solve the issue, one would need to find out the magnetic declination in one's location and then take that into account when trying to determine qiblah direction.
Taking Sydney, Australia as an example: the qiblah bearing there is about 277 degrees (WNW) with respect to true north. However, the magnetic declination there is about 12 degrees east (Source: http://www.magnetic-declination.com/). This means that in order to locate 277 degrees with respect to true north, you'll have to point your compass towards 277 minus 12 degrees, i.e. 265 degrees.
As such, if the magnetic declination at your location is easterly, then subtract the declination angle from whatever bearing you're trying to determine and point your compass to that. Whereas if the magnetic declination at your location is westerly, then add the declination angle to whatever bearing you're trying to determine and point your compass to that. For example, if the qiblah bearing at your location is 100° and the magnetic declination is 10° east, then to find the qiblah, point your compass to 100° − 10° = 90°. And if the qiblah bearing at your location is 100° and the magnetic declination is 10° west, then to find the qiblah, point your compass to 100° + 10° = 110°.
All this applies to your typical physical compass as well as your typical smartphone compass. However, there are smartphone compass apps that do give the option of displaying bearings with respect to true north. In such a case, there's no need to do all the above – just simply configure the settings to display bearings with respect to true north, turn your location services or phone GPS on (so that the app can determine the magnetic declination at your location), point your compass towards the qiblah direction, and you're done!
It's also worth noting that not all smartphones come with a proper compass built-in – those that don't will usually try to improvise using the phone's other sensors. As such, it's probably best to check your smartphone's specs to see whether you should even be using it as a compass to start with (especially for the purposes of the qiblah – it's your prayers that are at stake!).
وآخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله ربّ العالمين، وصلّى الله على سيّدنا محمّد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلّم
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