Qibla direction in Honolulu

How to face the Qibla in Honolulu

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 23.1° towards west: the result is the bearing of 336.9°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at north would leave you about 23° 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 Honolulu, 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

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Honolulu to Mecca points to 270.0° (west), a full 66.8° away from the true Qibla of 336.9° (north-west). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 1,918 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Honolulu first heads north-west, and that is the direction to face.

How is the figure of 336.9° obtained? From the coordinates of Honolulu (21.3069° N, 157.8583° W) 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 Honolulu to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 14,891 km from Honolulu as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 14,586 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 18 h 01 min, although most pilgrims from Honolulu connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Honolulu run 13 hours behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Honolulu rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Honolulu

On 48 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Honolulu while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in June (30 days); for example, on 1 June 2027 it happens at 12:31 local time.

On 315 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 11:21.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 27 May 2027 and 15 July 2027. Both happen at night in Honolulu (23:18 and 23:27 local time), so they cannot be used here. Instead, on 13 January 2027 at 11:29 and 28 November 2027 at 11:09 the sun is over the point opposite the Kaaba, and every vertical shadow in Honolulu points straight to Mecca.

Honolulu compared with other cities

Compared with Washington D.C., 7,772 km away, the Qibla in Honolulu is turned 79.7° further anticlockwise (336.9° against 56.6°), and Mecca is 4,257 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Santa Rosa, California, United States (3,853 km), prays towards 18.4°, a difference of 41.5°.

Across the 244 cities in the United States on this site, the Qibla ranges from 17.2° in Hillsboro to 350.9° in Anchorage, a spread of 333.7°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for United States.

Qibla in cities near Honolulu

• Santa Rosa, California, United States18.4° · 3,853 km
• San Francisco18.8° · 3,854 km
• San Mateo19.0° · 3,854 km
• Berkeley19.0° · 3,870 km
• Hayward19.2° · 3,879 km
• Vallejo19.0° · 3,879 km