Qibla direction in eMbalenhle

How to face the Qibla in eMbalenhle

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 13.3° towards east: the result is the bearing of 13.3°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at north would leave you about 13° 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 eMbalenhle, 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 eMbalenhle to Mecca points to 12.3°, only 1.0° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 13.3° bearing remains the exact one.

How is the figure of 13.3° obtained? From the coordinates of eMbalenhle (26.5333° S, 29.0667° 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 eMbalenhle to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 5,457 km from eMbalenhle as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 5,783 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 6 h 55 min, although most pilgrims from eMbalenhle connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in eMbalenhle 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 eMbalenhle rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in eMbalenhle

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of eMbalenhle 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 12:04 local time.

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

eMbalenhle compared with other cities

Compared with Pretoria, 124 km away, the Qibla in eMbalenhle is turned 1.2° further anticlockwise (13.3° against 14.5°), and Mecca is 64 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Standerton (48 km), prays towards 13.0°, a difference of 0.3°.

Across the 59 cities in South Africa on this site, the Qibla ranges from 9.4° in Richards Bay to 23.4° in Cape Town, a spread of 14.0°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for South Africa.

Qibla in cities near eMbalenhle

• Standerton13.0° · 48 km
• Nigel14.0° · 60 km
• Emalahleni13.2° · 75 km
• Etwatwa14.1° · 76 km
• Benoni14.3° · 84 km
• Ermelo12.2° · 91 km