Qibla direction in Bumba

How to face the Qibla in Bumba

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 40.0° towards east: the result is the bearing of 40.0°. 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 Bumba.

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 Bumba to Mecca points to 41.3°, only 1.3° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 40.0° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 2.1877° N, 22.4683° 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 Bumba to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 2,847 km from Bumba as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,086 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 3 h 51 min, although most pilgrims from Bumba connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Bumba 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 Bumba rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Bumba

On 176 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Bumba 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 1 April 2027 it happens at 11:26 local time.

On 189 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 13:04.

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

Bumba compared with other cities

Compared with Kinshasa, 1,076 km away, the Qibla in Bumba is turned 2.1° further anticlockwise (40.0° against 42.1°), and Mecca is 1,068 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Lisala (106 km), prays towards 41.4°, a difference of 1.4°.

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 Bumba

• Lisala41.4° · 106 km
• Gemena45.4° · 322 km
• Kisangani33.4° · 355 km
• Mbandaka43.2° · 525 km
• Isiro31.5° · 576 km
• Bakwa33.8° · 588 km