Qibla direction in Qaşr Bin Ghashīr

How to face the Qibla in Qaşr Bin Ghashīr

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 18.8° towards south: the result is the bearing of 108.8°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 19° 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 Qaşr Bin Ghashīr, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Qaşr Bin Ghashīr 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 Qaşr Bin Ghashīr to Mecca points to 115.4° (south-east), 6.7° away from the correct 108.8°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 6 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 108.8° obtained? From the coordinates of Qaşr Bin Ghashīr (32.6833° N, 13.1833° 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 Qaşr Bin Ghashīr to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 2,909 km from Qaşr Bin Ghashīr as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 2,729 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 3 h 55 min, although most pilgrims from Qaşr Bin Ghashīr connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Qaşr Bin Ghashīr run 1 hour behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Qaşr Bin Ghashīr rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Qaşr Bin Ghashīr

On 257 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Qaşr Bin Ghashīr while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in March (31 days); for example, on 15 February 2027 it happens at 08:21 local time.

On 84 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 July (31 days), for instance on 15 May 2027 at 19:25.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Qaşr Bin Ghashīr: at 11:18 and 11:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Qaşr Bin Ghashīr compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Tripoli, Libya (109.2°), and Mecca is 7 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Janzūr (22 km), prays towards 108.9°, a difference of 0.1°.

Across the 17 cities in Libya on this site, the Qibla ranges from 98.1° in Sabha to 123.1° in Tobruk, a spread of 25.0°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Libya.

Qibla in cities near Qaşr Bin Ghashīr

• Janzūr108.9° · 22 km
• Tripoli, Libya109.2° · 23 km
• Tājūrā’109.3° · 27 km
• Az Zawiyah108.4° · 43 km
• Al Ajaylat108.0° · 76 km
• Al Khums109.9° · 101 km