Qibla direction in Kafr ad Dawwār

How to face the Qibla in Kafr ad Dawwār

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 44.1° towards east: the result is the bearing of 135.9°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “south” would be off by more than 40°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Kafr ad Dawwār.

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 Kafr ad Dawwār, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Kafr ad Dawwār is a handy reference, because the 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

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Kafr ad Dawwār to Mecca points to 138.2° (south-east), 2.3° away from the correct 135.9°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is not the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

How is the figure of 135.9° obtained? From the coordinates of Kafr ad Dawwār (31.1338° N, 30.1297° 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 Kafr ad Dawwār to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,448 km from Kafr ad Dawwār as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,190 km away. The distance is short enough that many pilgrims from Kafr ad Dawwār travel to the Hijaz by road.

Clocks in Kafr ad Dawwār run 1 hour behind Mecca in winter and the same time as Mecca in summer, because of daylight saving time. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Kafr ad Dawwār rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Kafr ad Dawwār

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Kafr ad Dawwār while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in January (31 days); for example, on 1 January 2027 it happens at 09:03 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Kafr ad Dawwār during daylight, so the shadow method does not apply here; the left-hand column is the one to use.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Kafr ad Dawwār: at 12:18 and 12:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Kafr ad Dawwār compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Cairo (136.2°), and Mecca is 160 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Alexandria (22 km), prays towards 135.4°, a difference of 0.5°.

Across the 55 cities in Egypt on this site, the Qibla ranges from 111.3° in Aswān to 149.5° in Arish, a spread of 38.2°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Egypt.

Qibla in cities near Kafr ad Dawwār

• Alexandria135.4° · 22 km
• Idkū137.0° · 25 km
• Damanhur136.7° · 34 km
• Rosetta137.6° · 40 km
• Disūq137.6° · 49 km
• Kafr ash Shaykh138.5° · 77 km