Qibla direction in Ottawa

How to face the Qibla in Ottawa

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 32.8° towards north: the result is the bearing of 57.2°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “east” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Ottawa.

The scholars distinguish two cases: the one who sees the Kaaba aims at the building itself, while the one who cannot see it, as anywhere in Ottawa, aims at its direction as well as he reasonably can. Comparing with the mihrab of one of the mosques of Ottawa is a quick way to confirm the result. If you travel or move house, check the angle again, since it changes from place to place.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Ottawa to Mecca points to 104.2° (east), a full 47.0° away from the true Qibla of 57.2° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 761 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Ottawa first heads north-east, and that is the direction to face.

The value of 57.2° is the direction in which the shortest route from 45.4112° N, 75.6981° W sets off towards the Kaaba at 21.4225° N, 39.8262° E. Every accurate Qibla calculator, and the plans of well-oriented mosques, arrive at the same angle for this point.

Distance from Ottawa to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 10,144 km from Ottawa as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 9,869 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 12 h 26 min, although most pilgrims from Ottawa connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Ottawa run 8 hours behind Mecca in winter and 7 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 Ottawa rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Ottawa

From Ottawa the sun never rises high in the Qibla direction of 57.2°, so you cannot simply face the sun. The opposite method works instead, as the right-hand column of the table shows.

On 300 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 16:19.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Ottawa (05:18 and 05:27 local time), so they cannot be used here.

Ottawa compared with other cities

The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Orléans, Ontario, Canada (16 km), prays towards 57.3°, a difference of 0.1°.

Across the 46 cities in Canada on this site, the Qibla ranges from 16.5° in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada to 73.4° in St. John's, a spread of 56.9°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Canada.

Qibla in cities near Ottawa

• Orléans, Ontario, Canada57.3° · 16 km
• Kingston, Ontario, Canada56.6° · 145 km
• Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne58.5° · 152 km
• Montreal58.7° · 165 km
• Trois-Rivières59.4° · 265 km
• Sherbrooke59.9° · 297 km