Qibla direction in Abéché

How to face the Qibla in Abéché

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 25.5° towards north: the result is the bearing of 64.5°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 25° 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 Abéché, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Abéché is a handy reference, because the 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

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Abéché to Mecca points to 67.2° (north-east), 2.7° away from the correct 64.5°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is not the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

How is the figure of 64.5° obtained? From the coordinates of Abéché (13.8292° N, 20.8324° E) 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 Abéché to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 2,180 km from Abéché as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 2,296 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 3 h 04 min, although most pilgrims from Abéché connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Abéché run 2 hours behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Abéché rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Abéché

On 111 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Abéché while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in May (31 days); for example, on 1 May 2027 it happens at 11:23 local time.

On 254 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 16:49.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Abéché: at 10:18 and 10:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Abéché compared with other cities

Compared with N'Djamena, 656 km away, the Qibla in Abéché is turned 0.7° further anticlockwise (64.5° against 65.3°), and Mecca is 649 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Sarh (585 km), prays towards 56.8°, a difference of 7.8°.

Across the 4 cities in Chad on this site, the Qibla ranges from 56.8° in Sarh to 65.3° in N'Djamena, a spread of 8.5°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Chad.

Qibla in cities near Abéché

• Sarh56.8° · 585 km
• N'Djamena65.3° · 656 km
• Moundou58.0° · 781 km