Qibla direction in Pelabuhanratu

How to face the Qibla in Pelabuhanratu

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 25.5° towards north: the result is the bearing of 295.5°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 25° off.

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. The simplest check in Pelabuhanratu is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Pelabuhanratu. 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

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Pelabuhanratu to Mecca points to 293.5° (north-west), 2.0° away from the correct 295.5°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 10 km longer than the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 6.9875° S, 106.5514° 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 Pelabuhanratu to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 7,928 km from Pelabuhanratu as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 8,043 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 9 h 50 min, although most pilgrims from Pelabuhanratu connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Pelabuhanratu run 4 hours ahead of Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Pelabuhanratu rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Pelabuhanratu

On 221 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Pelabuhanratu 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 15 March 2027 it happens at 12:42 local time.

On 142 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 08:58.

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

Pelabuhanratu compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Jakarta (295.2°), and Mecca is 7 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Sukabumi (42 km), prays towards 295.3°, a difference of 0.1°.

Among the 140 cities in Indonesia on this site, Pelabuhanratu has the largest Qibla bearing; the smallest is 290.2° in Merauke. Across the country the direction varies by 5.3°.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Indonesia.

Qibla in cities near Pelabuhanratu

• Sukabumi295.3° · 42 km
• Bogor295.3° · 51 km
• Cianjur295.3° · 67 km
• Depok295.2° · 72 km
• Rangkasbitung295.4° · 77 km
• Cileungsir295.2° · 80 km