Qibla direction in Cabudwaaq

How to face the Qibla in Cabudwaaq

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 21.6° towards west: the result is the bearing of 338.4°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at north would leave you about 22° 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. If a mosque is nearby, its mihrab and prayer lines are the easiest reference, since they were set when the building was laid out. 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 Cabudwaaq to Mecca points to 337.8°, only 0.6° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 338.4° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 6.2459° N, 46.2247° 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 Cabudwaaq to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,823 km from Cabudwaaq as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 2,145 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 2 h 39 min, although most pilgrims from Cabudwaaq connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Cabudwaaq 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 Cabudwaaq rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Cabudwaaq

On 154 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Cabudwaaq 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 12:01 local time.

On 211 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 11:10.

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

Cabudwaaq compared with other cities

Compared with Mogadishu, 478 km away, the Qibla in Cabudwaaq is turned 6.5° further anticlockwise (338.4° against 344.9°), and Mecca is 414 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Hargeisa (439 km), prays towards 341.5°, a difference of 3.1°.

Across the 10 cities in Somalia on this site, the Qibla ranges from 313.0° in El Dibir to 353.2° in Kismayo, a spread of 40.2°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Somalia.

Qibla in cities near Cabudwaaq

• Hargeisa341.5° · 439 km
• Baidoa348.8° · 450 km
• Mogadishu344.9° · 478 km
• Berbera336.2° · 485 km
• Ruqi343.6° · 516 km
• Merca346.6° · 529 km