Qibla direction in Bandundu Province

How to face the Qibla in Bandundu Province

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 40.6° towards east: the result is the bearing of 40.6°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “north” would be off by more than 40°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Bandundu Province.

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

On a flat (Mercator) map, the straight line from Bandundu Province to Mecca points to 41.6°, only 1.0° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 40.6° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 3.3169° S, 17.3806° 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 Bandundu Province to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,679 km from Bandundu Province as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,914 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h 50 min, although most pilgrims from Bandundu Province connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Bandundu Province 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 Bandundu Province rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Bandundu Province

On 203 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Bandundu Province 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 March 2027 it happens at 11:55 local time.

On 161 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 13:08.

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

Bandundu Province compared with other cities

Compared with Kinshasa, 255 km away, the Qibla in Bandundu Province is turned 1.4° further anticlockwise (40.6° against 42.1°), and Mecca is 236 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Kikwit (249 km), prays towards 37.2°, a difference of 3.4°.

Across the 37 cities in the DR Congo on this site, the Qibla ranges from 20.2° in Lubumbashi to 45.4° in Gemena, a spread of 25.2°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for DR Congo.

Qibla in cities near Bandundu Province

• Kikwit37.2° · 249 km
• Kinshasa42.1° · 255 km
• Inkisi41.6° · 328 km
• Mbanza-Ngungu41.7° · 353 km
• Ilebo35.5° · 373 km
• Mbandaka43.2° · 387 km