Qibla direction in Antananarivo

How to face the Qibla in Antananarivo

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 11.0° towards west: the result is the bearing of 349.0°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at north would leave you about 11° 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 Antananarivo, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Antananarivo 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

On a flat (Mercator) map, the straight line from Antananarivo to Mecca points to 349.4°, only 0.4° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 349.0° bearing remains the exact one.

How is the figure of 349.0° obtained? From the coordinates of Antananarivo (18.9137° S, 47.5361° 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 Antananarivo to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 4,563 km from Antananarivo as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,900 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 52 min, although most pilgrims from Antananarivo connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Antananarivo 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 Antananarivo rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Antananarivo

On 295 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Antananarivo 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 1 February 2027 it happens at 12:05 local time.

On 68 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 December (31 days), for instance on 1 January 2027 at 11:50.

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

Antananarivo compared with other cities

The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Antsirabe (118 km), prays towards 349.9°, a difference of 0.9°.

Across the 7 cities in Madagascar on this site, the Qibla ranges from 344.5° in Antsiranana to 354.9° in Toliara, a spread of 10.4°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Madagascar.

Qibla in cities near Antananarivo

• Antsirabe349.9° · 118 km
• Toamasina346.3° · 214 km
• Fianarantsoa350.2° · 286 km
• Mahajanga350.1° · 378 km
• Toliara354.9° · 636 km
• Antsiranana344.5° · 757 km