Qibla direction in Soacha

How to face the Qibla in Soacha

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 24.9° towards north: the result is the bearing of 65.1°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 25° 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 Soacha to Mecca points to 81.3° (east), a full 16.2° away from the true Qibla of 65.1° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 170 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Soacha first heads north-east, and that is the direction to face.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 4.5794° N, 74.2168° W 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 Soacha to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 12,278 km from Soacha as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 12,174 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 14 h 57 min, although most pilgrims from Soacha connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Soacha run 8 hours behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Soacha rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Soacha

On 162 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Soacha 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 15 April 2027 it happens at 11:10 local time.

On 202 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 16:55.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Soacha (04:18 and 04:27 local time), so they cannot be used here. Instead, on 13 January 2027 at 16:29 and 28 November 2027 at 16:09 the sun is over the point opposite the Kaaba, and every vertical shadow in Soacha points straight to Mecca.

Soacha compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Bogotá (65.1°), and Mecca is 15 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Funza (15 km), prays towards 65.1°, the same bearing to the tenth of a degree.

Across the 45 cities in Colombia on this site, the Qibla ranges from 62.9° in Cartagena, Bolívar, Colombia to 65.9° in Florencia, a spread of 3.0°. The difference is small, yet each city should still use its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Colombia.

Qibla in cities near Soacha

• Funza65.1° · 15 km
• Bogotá65.1° · 15 km
• Facatativá65.0° · 30 km
• Chía65.1° · 36 km
• Zipaquirá65.0° · 55 km
• Girardot City65.1° · 72 km