Qibla direction in Kikwit

How to face the Qibla in Kikwit

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 37.2° towards east: the result is the bearing of 37.2°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “north” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Kikwit.

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 Kikwit to Mecca points to 37.9°, only 0.7° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 37.2° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 5.0410° S, 18.8162° 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 Kikwit to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,729 km from Kikwit as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,979 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h 53 min, although most pilgrims from Kikwit connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Kikwit 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 Kikwit rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Kikwit

On 212 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Kikwit 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 11:45 local time.

On 152 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 12:48.

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

Kikwit compared with other cities

Compared with Kinshasa, 396 km away, the Qibla in Kikwit is turned 4.9° further anticlockwise (37.2° against 42.1°), and Mecca is 187 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Ilebo (211 km), prays towards 35.5°, a difference of 1.7°.

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 Kikwit

• Ilebo35.5° · 211 km
• Bandundu Province40.6° · 249 km
• Tshikapa33.3° · 267 km
• Kinshasa42.1° · 396 km
• Kananga31.5° · 410 km
• Inkisi41.6° · 417 km