Qibla direction in Hamilton, Hamilton city, Bermuda

How to face the Qibla in Hamilton, Hamilton city, Bermuda

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 25.7° towards north: the result is the bearing of 64.3°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 26° off.

Facing the Qibla is a condition of the prayer. Whoever prays inside the Sacred Mosque faces the Kaaba itself; whoever is far away, as in Hamilton, Hamilton city, Bermuda, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. A nearby mosque is a handy reference, because its prayer rows were aligned when it was built. Once you know the direction at home, a discreet mark on the wall saves you from checking again.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Hamilton, Hamilton city, Bermuda to Mecca points to 96.7° (east), a full 32.4° away from the true Qibla of 64.3° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 395 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Hamilton, Hamilton city, Bermuda first heads north-east, and that is the direction to face.

How is the figure of 64.3° obtained? From the coordinates of Hamilton, Hamilton city, Bermuda (32.2949° N, 64.7830° W) and of the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E), spherical trigonometry gives the starting bearing of the great circle joining them. Mosque architects and astronomical Qibla tables rely on exactly the same calculation.

Distance from Hamilton, Hamilton city, Bermuda to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 10,029 km from Hamilton, Hamilton city, Bermuda as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 9,816 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 12 h 18 min, although most pilgrims from Hamilton, Hamilton city, Bermuda connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Hamilton, Hamilton city, Bermuda run 7 hours behind Mecca in winter and 6 hours behind Mecca in summer, because of daylight saving time. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Hamilton, Hamilton city, Bermuda rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Hamilton, Hamilton city, Bermuda

From Hamilton, Hamilton city, Bermuda the sun never rises high in the Qibla direction of 64.3°, so you cannot simply face the sun. The opposite method works instead, as the right-hand column of the table shows.

On 298 days the sun stands exactly opposite the Qibla: then the shadow of any vertical object, a pole, a door frame or a plumb line, points straight towards Mecca. This is most frequent in March (31 days), for instance on 1 February 2027 at 17:09.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Hamilton, Hamilton city, Bermuda (06:18 and 06:27 local time), so they cannot be used here.

Hamilton, Hamilton city, Bermuda compared with other cities

See all cities on the Qibla page for Bermuda.