Qibla direction in Ad-Damazin

How to face the Qibla in Ad-Damazin

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 27.8° towards east: the result is the bearing of 27.8°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at north would leave you about 28° 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 Ad-Damazin to Mecca points to 28.5°, only 0.7° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 27.8° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 11.7891° N, 34.3592° 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 Ad-Damazin to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,219 km from Ad-Damazin as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,515 km away. The distance is short enough that many pilgrims from Ad-Damazin travel to the Hijaz by road.

Clocks in Ad-Damazin 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 Ad-Damazin rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Ad-Damazin

On 123 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Ad-Damazin 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 1 May 2027 it happens at 11:33 local time.

On 241 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 13:01.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Ad-Damazin: at 11:18 and 11:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Ad-Damazin compared with other cities

Compared with Khartoum, 463 km away, the Qibla in Ad-Damazin is turned 20.8° further anticlockwise (27.8° against 48.6°), and Mecca is 210 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Singa (158 km), prays towards 33.4°, a difference of 5.6°.

Among the 18 cities in Sudan on this site, Ad-Damazin has the smallest Qibla bearing; the largest is 61.9° in Geneina. Across the country the direction varies by 34.1°.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Sudan.

Qibla in cities near Ad-Damazin

• Singa33.4° · 158 km
• Sennar36.3° · 216 km
• Kūstī38.6° · 239 km
• Gedaref29.2° · 273 km
• Wad Madani39.6° · 304 km
• Al Manāqil41.2° · 311 km