Qibla direction in Mahajanga

How to face the Qibla in Mahajanga

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 9.9° towards west: the result is the bearing of 350.1°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at north would leave you about 10° 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 Mahajanga is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Mahajanga. 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 Mahajanga to Mecca points to 350.3°, only 0.2° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 350.1° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 15.7167° S, 46.3167° 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 Mahajanga to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 4,190 km from Mahajanga as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,527 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 26 min, although most pilgrims from Mahajanga connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Mahajanga 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 Mahajanga rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Mahajanga

On 273 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Mahajanga 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 12:11 local time.

On 92 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 11:53.

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

Mahajanga compared with other cities

Compared with Antananarivo, 378 km away, the Qibla in Mahajanga is turned 1.1° further clockwise (350.1° against 349.0°), and Mecca is 373 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Antananarivo (378 km), prays towards 349.0°, a difference of 1.1°.

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 Mahajanga

• Antananarivo349.0° · 378 km
• Toamasina346.3° · 425 km
• Antsirabe349.9° · 468 km
• Antsiranana344.5° · 496 km
• Fianarantsoa350.2° · 643 km
• Toliara354.9° · 893 km