Qibla direction in Bandar Seri Begawan

How to face the Qibla in Bandar Seri Begawan

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 20.9° towards north: the result is the bearing of 290.9°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 21° 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. The simplest check in Bandar Seri Begawan is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Bandar Seri Begawan. 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 Bandar Seri Begawan to Mecca points to 282.8° (west), 8.1° away from the correct 290.9°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 38 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 4.8904° N, 114.9401° E 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 Bandar Seri Begawan to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 8,270 km from Bandar Seri Begawan as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 8,299 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 10 h 14 min, although most pilgrims from Bandar Seri Begawan connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Bandar Seri Begawan run 5 hours ahead of Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Bandar Seri Begawan rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Bandar Seri Begawan

On 111 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Bandar Seri Begawan while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in August (31 days); for example, on 15 April 2027 it happens at 13:13 local time.

On 147 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 08:15.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Bandar Seri Begawan: at 17:18 and 17:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Bandar Seri Begawan compared with other cities

See all cities on the Qibla page for Brunei.