Qibla direction in Antsiranana

How to face the Qibla in Antsiranana

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 15.5° towards west: the result is the bearing of 344.5°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at north would leave you about 15° 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 Antsiranana, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Antsiranana 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 Antsiranana to Mecca points to 344.6°, only 0.1° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 344.5° bearing remains the exact one.

How is the figure of 344.5° obtained? From the coordinates of Antsiranana (12.3173° S, 49.2919° 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 Antsiranana to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,891 km from Antsiranana as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,223 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 05 min, although most pilgrims from Antsiranana connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Antsiranana 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 Antsiranana rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Antsiranana

On 251 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Antsiranana 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 March 2027 it happens at 12:00 local time.

On 114 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 11:33.

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

Antsiranana compared with other cities

Compared with Antananarivo, 757 km away, the Qibla in Antsiranana is turned 4.5° further anticlockwise (344.5° against 349.0°), and Mecca is 672 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Mahajanga (496 km), prays towards 350.1°, a difference of 5.6°.

Among the 7 cities in Madagascar on this site, Antsiranana has the smallest Qibla bearing; the largest is 354.9° in Toliara. Across the country the direction varies by 10.4°.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Madagascar.

Qibla in cities near Antsiranana

• Mahajanga350.1° · 496 km
• Toamasina346.3° · 649 km
• Antananarivo349.0° · 757 km
• Antsirabe349.9° · 873 km
• Fianarantsoa350.2° · 1,043 km
• Toliara354.9° · 1,363 km