Qibla direction in Richards Bay

How to face the Qibla in Richards Bay

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 9.4° towards east: the result is the bearing of 9.4°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at north would leave you about 9° 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 Richards Bay, 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

On a flat (Mercator) map, the straight line from Richards Bay to Mecca points to 8.5°, only 0.9° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 9.4° bearing remains the exact one.

How is the figure of 9.4° obtained? From the coordinates of Richards Bay (28.7830° S, 32.0377° 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 Richards Bay to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 5,645 km from Richards Bay as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 5,976 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 7 h 08 min, although most pilgrims from Richards Bay connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Richards Bay 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 Richards Bay rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Richards Bay

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Richards Bay 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 Richards Bay 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 Richards Bay: at 11:18 and 11:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Richards Bay compared with other cities

Compared with Pretoria, 509 km away, the Qibla in Richards Bay is turned 5.1° further anticlockwise (9.4° against 14.5°), and Mecca is 252 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, KwaDukuza (95 km), prays towards 10.2°, a difference of 0.8°.

Among the 59 cities in South Africa on this site, Richards Bay has the smallest Qibla bearing; the largest is 23.4° in Cape Town. Across the country the direction varies by 14.0°.

See all cities on the Qibla page for South Africa.

Qibla in cities near Richards Bay

• KwaDukuza10.2° · 95 km
• Ntuzuma10.5° · 150 km
• Durban10.4° · 154 km
• Vryheid11.0° · 166 km
• Mpumalanga10.9° · 178 km
• Pietermaritzburg11.2° · 185 km