Qibla direction in Songea

How to face the Qibla in Songea

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 7.3° towards east: the result is the bearing of 7.3°. The direction is close to due north, which makes it easy to remember.

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 Songea to Mecca points to 7.3°, only 0.0° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 7.3° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 10.6833° S, 35.6500° 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 Songea to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,599 km from Songea as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,932 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h 44 min, although most pilgrims from Songea connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Songea 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 Songea rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Songea

On 242 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Songea while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in March (31 days); for example, on 1 March 2027 it happens at 12:48 local time.

On 122 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 12:48.

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

Songea compared with other cities

Compared with Dodoma, 502 km away, the Qibla in Songea is turned 0.9° further anticlockwise (7.3° against 8.2°), and Mecca is 498 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Makumbako (223 km), prays towards 9.1°, a difference of 1.9°.

Across the 34 cities in Tanzania on this site, the Qibla ranges from 1.1° in Dar es Salaam to 359.4° in Mtwara, a spread of 358.3°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Tanzania.

Qibla in cities near Songea

• Makumbako9.1° · 223 km
• Katumba11.2° · 275 km
• Ifakara5.9° · 305 km
• Mbeya11.6° · 312 km
• Iringa7.8° · 324 km
• Tunduma12.7° · 351 km