Qibla direction in Matanzas

How to face the Qibla in Matanzas

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 33.5° towards north: the result is the bearing of 56.5°. 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 Matanzas.

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 Matanzas to Mecca points to 90.8° (east), a full 34.3° away from the true Qibla of 56.5° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 525 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Matanzas 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 23.0439° N, 81.5828° 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 Matanzas to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 11,972 km from Matanzas as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 11,761 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 14 h 35 min, although most pilgrims from Matanzas connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Matanzas 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 Matanzas rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Matanzas

On 21 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Matanzas while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in June (20 days); for example, on 15 June 2027 it happens at 13:25 local time.

On 340 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 16:34.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Matanzas (05:18 and 05:27 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 Matanzas points straight to Mecca.

Matanzas compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Havana (56.0°), and Mecca is 63 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Havana (82 km), prays towards 56.0°, a difference of 0.5°.

Across the 15 cities in Cuba on this site, the Qibla ranges from 55.5° in Pinar del Río to 60.4° in Guantánamo, a spread of 4.9°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Cuba.

Qibla in cities near Matanzas

• Havana56.0° · 82 km
• Cienfuegos57.3° · 153 km
• Santa Clara57.5° · 180 km
• Pinar del Río55.5° · 228 km
• Sancti Spíritus57.9° · 252 km
• Ciego de Ávila58.3° · 319 km