Qibla direction in Kikuyu

How to face the Qibla in Kikuyu

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 7.6° towards east: the result is the bearing of 7.6°. The direction is close to due north, which makes it easy to remember.

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 Kikuyu to Mecca points to 7.8°, only 0.2° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 7.6° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 1.2463° S, 36.6629° 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 Kikuyu to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 2,544 km from Kikuyu as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 2,877 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 3 h 30 min, although most pilgrims from Kikuyu connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Kikuyu run the same time as Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Kikuyu rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Kikuyu

On 192 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Kikuyu 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 12:34 local time.

On 171 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 12:49.

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

Kikuyu compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Nairobi (7.2°), and Mecca is 2 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Nairobi (18 km), prays towards 7.2°, a difference of 0.4°.

Across the 20 cities in Kenya on this site, the Qibla ranges from 0.4° in Mombasa to 359.4° in Malindi, a spread of 359.0°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Kenya.

Qibla in cities near Kikuyu

• Nairobi7.2° · 18 km
• Ruiru6.9° · 35 km
• Kitengela6.8° · 42 km
• Thika6.7° · 51 km
• Naivasha8.3° · 65 km
• Karuri6.5° · 84 km