i have been using the aladhan api for a while to check my prayer times and it works very well for me. recently i started paying more attention to how it shows the qibla direction and it made me think about how to understand it in a more natural way. i got inspired from this idea positively because it connects something technical with something spiritual which is facing the kaaba during prayer. the api shows the qibla direction in degrees from north and that is helpful but sometimes it feels hard to visualize that number in real space without a compass.
before asking my question i want to explain briefly what a qibla finder is. a qibla finder is an online tool that helps muslims know the correct direction of the kaaba in mecca based on their current location. it uses gps and map data to calculate the direction accurately. some people also call it an islamic compass online because it acts like a digital compass made for prayer use. i find this idea interesting because it joins modern web tools with traditional religious practice.
my question is about how to make that angle information from the aladhan api easier to understand when praying. when i get a value like 295 degrees i know it means somewhere around west northwest but i cannot always feel that direction clearly without a visual aid. i want to ask if anyone here has a simple method or habit that helps them turn that numeric qibla direction into something easy to follow in real life. how do you personally make sense of the qibla angle from the aladhan api so that it feels natural when you face the direction for prayer?
