Qibla direction in Marsá Maţrūḩ

How to face the Qibla in Marsá Maţrūḩ

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 38.4° towards south: the result is the bearing of 128.4°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “east” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Marsá Maţrūḩ.

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 Marsá Maţrūḩ, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Marsá Maţrūḩ 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 Marsá Maţrūḩ to Mecca points to 131.4° (south-east), 3.0° away from the correct 128.4°. 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 128.4° obtained? From the coordinates of Marsá Maţrūḩ (31.3529° N, 27.2373° 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 Marsá Maţrūḩ to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,668 km from Marsá Maţrūḩ as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,435 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 2 h 28 min, although most pilgrims from Marsá Maţrūḩ connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Marsá Maţrūḩ 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 Marsá Maţrūḩ rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Marsá Maţrūḩ

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Marsá Maţrūḩ 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 08:31 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Marsá Maţrūḩ 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 Marsá Maţrūḩ: at 12:18 and 12:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Marsá Maţrūḩ compared with other cities

Compared with Cairo, 410 km away, the Qibla in Marsá Maţrūḩ is turned 7.8° further anticlockwise (128.4° against 136.2°), and Mecca is 381 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Alexandria (255 km), prays towards 135.4°, a difference of 7.0°.

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 Marsá Maţrūḩ

• Alexandria135.4° · 255 km
• Kafr ad Dawwār135.9° · 276 km
• Idkū137.0° · 291 km
• Rosetta137.6° · 302 km
• Damanhur136.7° · 309 km
• Disūq137.6° · 325 km