Qibla direction in Port-Gentil

How to face the Qibla in Port-Gentil

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 38.0° towards north: the result is the bearing of 52.0°. 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 Port-Gentil.

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 Port-Gentil to Mecca points to 53.9°, only 1.9° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 52.0° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 0.7193° S, 8.7815° 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 Port-Gentil to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 4,174 km from Port-Gentil as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,345 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 25 min, although most pilgrims from Port-Gentil connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Port-Gentil 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 Port-Gentil rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Port-Gentil

On 190 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Port-Gentil 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 12:02 local time.

On 175 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 14:36.

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

Port-Gentil compared with other cities

Compared with Libreville, 144 km away, the Qibla in Port-Gentil is turned 0.6° further anticlockwise (52.0° against 52.6°), and Mecca is 135 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Libreville (144 km), prays towards 52.6°, a difference of 0.6°.

Across the 3 cities in Gabon on this site, the Qibla ranges from 46.6° in Franceville to 52.6° in Libreville, a spread of 6.0°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Gabon.

Qibla in cities near Port-Gentil

• Libreville52.6° · 144 km
• Franceville46.6° · 543 km