Qibla direction in Rondonópolis

How to face the Qibla in Rondonópolis

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 19.6° towards north: the result is the bearing of 70.4°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 20° off.

Scholars agree that someone who can see the Kaaba must face it exactly, while someone far away faces its direction (jihat al-Ka‘bah) as precisely as reasonably possible. If a mosque is nearby, its mihrab and prayer lines are the easiest reference, since they were set when the building was laid out. At home, mark the direction once with tape or a small arrow so the whole family prays the same way.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Rondonópolis to Mecca points to 67.8° (east), 2.7° away from the correct 70.4°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 13 km longer than the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 16.4708° S, 54.6356° W to the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E). It is the method used by mosque architects and by every serious Qibla calculator, and it gives one exact answer for each point on Earth.

Distance from Rondonópolis to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 11,115 km from Rondonópolis as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 11,174 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 13 h 35 min, although most pilgrims from Rondonópolis connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Rondonópolis run 7 hours behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Rondonópolis rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Rondonópolis

On 192 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Rondonópolis while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in March (31 days); for example, on 15 February 2027 it happens at 11:11 local time.

On 87 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 January (31 days), for instance on 1 January 2027 at 13:21.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Rondonópolis (05:18 and 05:27 local time), so they cannot be used here. Instead, on 13 January 2027 at 17:29 and 28 November 2027 at 17:09 the sun is over the point opposite the Kaaba, and every vertical shadow in Rondonópolis points straight to Mecca.

Rondonópolis compared with other cities

Compared with Brasília, 720 km away, the Qibla in Rondonópolis is turned 1.7° further clockwise (70.4° against 68.8°), and Mecca is 698 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Cuiabá (184 km), prays towards 70.6°, a difference of 0.2°.

Across the 257 cities in Brazil on this site, the Qibla ranges from 66.1° in Maceió to 74.2° in Uruguaiana, a spread of 8.1°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Brazil.

Qibla in cities near Rondonópolis

• Cuiabá70.6° · 184 km
• Jatai69.9° · 347 km
• Tangará da Serra70.7° · 368 km
• Rio Verde69.7° · 421 km
• Campo Grande71.1° · 442 km
• Sorriso70.0° · 452 km