Qibla direction in Maputo

How to face the Qibla in Maputo

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 9.1° towards east: the result is the bearing of 9.1°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at north would leave you about 9° 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 Maputo is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Maputo. 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 Maputo to Mecca points to 8.4°, only 0.7° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 9.1° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 25.9655° S, 32.5832° 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 Maputo to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 5,327 km from Maputo as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 5,659 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 6 h 46 min, although most pilgrims from Maputo connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Maputo 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 Maputo rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Maputo

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Maputo while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in January (31 days); for example, on 1 January 2027 it happens at 11:51 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Maputo during daylight, so the shadow method does not apply here; the left-hand column is the one to use.

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

Maputo compared with other cities

The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Ressano Garcia (83 km), prays towards 9.9°, a difference of 0.8°.

Across the 16 cities in Mozambique on this site, the Qibla ranges from 0.9° in Nampula to 359.9° in Angoche, 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 Mozambique.

Qibla in cities near Maputo

• Ressano Garcia9.9° · 83 km
• Xai-Xai7.9° · 147 km
• Maxixe5.9° · 364 km
• Beira7.0° · 719 km
• Chimoio9.0° · 767 km
• Quelimane4.3° · 1,003 km