Qibla direction in Mwene-Ditu

How to face the Qibla in Mwene-Ditu

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 29.1° towards east: the result is the bearing of 29.1°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at north would leave you about 29° 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

On a flat (Mercator) map, the straight line from Mwene-Ditu to Mecca points to 29.5°, only 0.4° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 29.1° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 7.0091° S, 23.4528° 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 Mwene-Ditu to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,631 km from Mwene-Ditu 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 46 min, although most pilgrims from Mwene-Ditu connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Mwene-Ditu run 1 hour behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Mwene-Ditu rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Mwene-Ditu

On 222 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Mwene-Ditu 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 12:24 local time.

On 142 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 Mwene-Ditu: at 11:18 and 11:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Mwene-Ditu compared with other cities

Compared with Kinshasa, 949 km away, the Qibla in Mwene-Ditu is turned 13.0° further anticlockwise (29.1° against 42.1°), and Mecca is 284 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Gandajika (63 km), prays towards 28.6°, a difference of 0.5°.

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 Mwene-Ditu

• Gandajika28.6° · 63 km
• Mbuji-Mayi29.6° · 98 km
• Kabinda28.2° · 149 km
• Kananga31.5° · 169 km
• Kamina25.6° · 257 km
• Tshikapa33.3° · 300 km