Qibla direction in Kenema

How to face the Qibla in Kenema

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 21.3° towards north: the result is the bearing of 68.7°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 21° 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 Kenema is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Kenema. 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

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Kenema to Mecca points to 74.6° (east), 5.9° away from the correct 68.7°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 13 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.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 7.8769° N, 11.1903° W 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 Kenema to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 5,664 km from Kenema as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 5,693 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 7 h 10 min, although most pilgrims from Kenema connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Kenema run 3 hours behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Kenema rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Kenema

On 114 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Kenema 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 12:25 local time.

On 162 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 March (31 days), for instance on 1 February 2027 at 17:25.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Kenema: at 09:18 and 09:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Kenema compared with other cities

Compared with Freetown, 235 km away, the Qibla in Kenema is turned 0.7° further anticlockwise (68.7° against 69.5°), and Mecca is 186 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Bo (61 km), prays towards 68.9°, a difference of 0.1°.

Among the 4 cities in Sierra Leone on this site, Kenema has the smallest Qibla bearing; the largest is 69.5° in Freetown. Across the country the direction varies by 0.7°.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Sierra Leone.

Qibla in cities near Kenema

• Bo68.9° · 61 km
• Koidu69.3° · 89 km
• Freetown69.5° · 235 km