Qibla direction in Macheng

How to face the Qibla in Macheng

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 11.9° towards north: the result is the bearing of 281.9°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 12° 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

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Macheng to Mecca points to 261.7° (west), a full 20.1° away from the true Qibla of 281.9° (west). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 123 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Macheng first heads west, and that is the direction to face.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 31.1801° N, 115.0221° 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 Macheng to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 7,437 km from Macheng as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 7,312 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 9 h 15 min, although most pilgrims from Macheng connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Macheng 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 Macheng rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Macheng

On 120 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Macheng 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 18:08 local time.

On 227 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 March 2027 at 07:13.

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

Macheng compared with other cities

Compared with Beijing, 978 km away, the Qibla in Macheng is turned 3.0° further clockwise (281.9° against 278.9°), and Mecca is 52 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Ezhou (88 km), prays towards 282.1°, a difference of 0.3°.

Across the 612 cities in China on this site, the Qibla ranges from 249.0° in Tacheng to 286.5° in Suifenhe, a spread of 37.5°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for China.

Qibla in cities near Macheng

• Ezhou282.1° · 88 km
• Wuhan281.8° · 98 km
• Huangshi282.3° · 104 km
• Xiaogan281.5° · 108 km
• Guangshui281.2° · 109 km
• Daye282.3° · 122 km