Qibla direction in Mwene

How to face the Qibla in Mwene

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 27.9° towards east: the result is the bearing of 27.9°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at north would leave you about 28° off.

Facing the Qibla is a condition of the prayer. Whoever prays inside the Sacred Mosque faces the Kaaba itself; whoever is far away, as in Mwene, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. A nearby mosque is a handy reference, because its prayer rows were aligned when it was built. Once you know the direction at home, a discreet mark on the wall saves you from checking again.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

On a flat (Mercator) map, the straight line from Mwene to Mecca points to 28.1°, only 0.1° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 27.9° bearing remains the exact one.

How is the figure of 27.9° obtained? From the coordinates of Mwene (9.8170° S, 22.8702° E) and of the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E), spherical trigonometry gives the starting bearing of the great circle joining them. Mosque architects and astronomical Qibla tables rely on exactly the same calculation.

Distance from Mwene to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,936 km from Mwene as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,223 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 08 min, although most pilgrims from Mwene connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Mwene 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 rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Mwene

On 237 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Mwene while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in March (31 days); for example, on 1 March 2027 it happens at 12:36 local time.

On 127 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 13:02.

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: at 11:18 and 11:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Mwene compared with other cities

Compared with Kinshasa, 1,033 km away, the Qibla in Mwene is turned 14.1° further anticlockwise (27.9° against 42.1°), and Mecca is 21 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Tshilenge (128 km), prays towards 27.2°, a difference of 0.8°.

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

• Tshilenge27.2° · 128 km
• Kamina25.6° · 263 km
• Kolwezi23.7° · 301 km
• Mwene-Ditu29.1° · 319 km
• Bukama24.0° · 334 km
• Gandajika28.6° · 362 km