Qibla direction in 's-Hertogenbosch

How to face the Qibla in 's-Hertogenbosch

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 35.4° towards south: the result is the bearing of 125.4°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “east” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in 's-Hertogenbosch.

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 's-Hertogenbosch, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. A nearby mosque is a handy reference, because its 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 's-Hertogenbosch to Mecca points to 138.2° (south-east), 12.8° away from the correct 125.4°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 26 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 125.4° obtained? From the coordinates of 's-Hertogenbosch (51.6992° N, 5.3042° 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 's-Hertogenbosch to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 4,488 km from 's-Hertogenbosch as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,194 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 47 min, although most pilgrims from 's-Hertogenbosch connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in 's-Hertogenbosch run 2 hours behind Mecca in winter and 1 hour behind Mecca in summer, because of daylight saving time. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of 's-Hertogenbosch rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in 's-Hertogenbosch

On 289 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of 's-Hertogenbosch 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 09:00 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of 's-Hertogenbosch 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 's-Hertogenbosch: at 11:18 and 11:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

's-Hertogenbosch compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Amsterdam (125.6°), and Mecca is 67 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Tilburg (22 km), prays towards 125.0°, a difference of 0.4°.

Across the 22 cities in the Netherlands on this site, the Qibla ranges from 124.6° in The Hague to 128.4° in Groningen, a spread of 3.8°. The difference is small, yet each city should still use its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Netherlands.

Qibla in cities near 's-Hertogenbosch

• Tilburg125.0° · 22 km
• Eindhoven125.4° · 31 km
• Breda124.7° · 39 km
• Nijmegen126.2° · 41 km
• Dordrecht124.8° · 45 km
• Utrecht125.6° · 45 km