Qibla direction in Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne

How to face the Qibla in Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 31.5° towards north: the result is the bearing of 58.5°. 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 Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne.

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 Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne, aims at its direction as well as he reasonably can. Comparing with the mihrab of a local mosque 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 Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne to Mecca points to 104.6° (east), a full 46.0° away from the true Qibla of 58.5° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 721 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne first heads north-east, and that is the direction to face.

The value of 58.5° is the direction in which the shortest route from 45.7020° N, 73.7867° 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 Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 10,001 km from Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 9,727 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 12 h 16 min, although most pilgrims from Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne 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 Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne

From Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne the sun never rises high in the Qibla direction of 58.5°, so you cannot simply face the sun. The opposite method works instead, as the right-hand column of the table shows.

On 294 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 Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne (05:18 and 05:27 local time), so they cannot be used here.

Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne compared with other cities

Compared with Ottawa, 152 km away, the Qibla in Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne is turned 1.4° further clockwise (58.5° against 57.2°), and Mecca is 143 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Montreal (26 km), prays towards 58.7°, 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 Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne

• Montreal58.7° · 26 km
• Trois-Rivières59.4° · 119 km
• Orléans, Ontario, Canada57.3° · 136 km
• Sherbrooke59.9° · 151 km
• Ottawa57.2° · 152 km
• Québec60.4° · 233 km