Qibla direction in Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa

How to face the Qibla in Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 22.4° towards east: the result is the bearing of 22.4°. 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

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa to Mecca points to 19.4° (north), 2.9° away from the correct 22.4°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is not 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 33.6465° S, 19.4485° 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 Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 6,493 km from Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 6,805 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 8 h 08 min, although most pilgrims from Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa 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 Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa 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 12:27 local time.

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

Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa compared with other cities

Compared with Pretoria, 1,217 km away, the Qibla in Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa is turned 7.8° further clockwise (22.4° against 14.5°), and Mecca is 1,100 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Paarl (45 km), prays towards 22.8°, a difference of 0.5°.

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 Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa

• Paarl22.8° · 45 km
• Somerset West22.9° · 76 km
• Cape Town23.4° · 100 km
• George19.2° · 281 km
• Uitenhage16.1° · 551 km
• Motherwell15.9° · 568 km