Qibla direction in Pontianak

How to face the Qibla in Pontianak

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 22.7° towards north: the result is the bearing of 292.7°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 23° off.

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 Pontianak, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Pontianak 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 Pontianak to Mecca points to 287.5° (west), 5.2° away from the correct 292.7°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 21 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.

How is the figure of 292.7° obtained? From the coordinates of Pontianak (0.0319° S, 109.3250° 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 Pontianak to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 7,893 km from Pontianak as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 7,964 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 9 h 47 min, although most pilgrims from Pontianak connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Pontianak 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 Pontianak rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Pontianak

On 156 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Pontianak 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 12:30 local time.

On 151 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 October (31 days), for instance on 15 January 2027 at 07:21.

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

Pontianak compared with other cities

Compared with Jakarta, 741 km away, the Qibla in Pontianak is turned 2.4° further anticlockwise (292.7° against 295.2°), and Mecca is 27 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Singkawang (111 km), prays towards 292.5°, a difference of 0.3°.

Across the 140 cities in Indonesia on this site, the Qibla ranges from 290.2° in Merauke to 295.5° in Pelabuhanratu, a spread of 5.3°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Indonesia.

Qibla in cities near Pontianak

• Singkawang292.5° · 111 km
• Tanjung Pandan293.9° · 354 km
• Pangkalanbuun293.2° · 390 km
• Sungailiat293.9° · 410 km
• Pangkalpinang294.0° · 426 km
• Sampit292.9° · 489 km