Qibla direction in Offa

How to face the Qibla in Offa

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 25.3° towards north: the result is the bearing of 64.7°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 25° 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 Offa, 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 Offa to Mecca points to 68.6° (east), 3.9° away from the correct 64.7°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 4 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 64.7° obtained? From the coordinates of Offa (8.1491° N, 4.7207° 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 Offa to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 4,039 km from Offa as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,123 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 15 min, although most pilgrims from Offa connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Offa run 2 hours behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Offa rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Offa

On 144 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Offa while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in May (31 days); for example, on 15 April 2027 it happens at 12:27 local time.

On 221 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 17:44.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Offa: at 10:18 and 10:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Offa compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Abuja (64.6°), and Mecca is 319 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Ila Orangun (25 km), prays towards 64.4°, a difference of 0.2°.

Across the 90 cities in Nigeria on this site, the Qibla ranges from 58.6° in Esuk Oron to 70.9° in Sokoto, a spread of 12.3°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Nigeria.

Qibla in cities near Offa

• Ila Orangun64.4° · 25 km
• Ikirun64.4° · 27 km
• Ilorin65.2° · 43 km
• Osogbo64.3° · 46 km
• Ogbomoso64.8° · 53 km
• Ijero-Ekiti64.1° · 53 km