Qibla direction in Aden

How to face the Qibla in Aden

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 29.2° towards west: the result is the bearing of 330.8°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at north would leave you about 29° 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 Aden, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Aden is a handy reference, because the 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 Aden to Mecca points to 330.1°, only 0.7° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 330.8° bearing remains the exact one.

How is the figure of 330.8° obtained? From the coordinates of Aden (12.7796° N, 45.0385° 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 Aden to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 1,109 km from Aden as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 1,419 km away. The distance is short enough that many pilgrims from Aden travel to the Hijaz by road.

Clocks in Aden 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 Aden rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Aden

On 116 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Aden 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 12:02 local time.

On 247 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 10:42.

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

Aden compared with other cities

Compared with Sanaa, 300 km away, the Qibla in Aden is turned 4.5° further clockwise (330.8° against 326.3°), and Mecca is 291 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Taiz (142 km), prays towards 333.6°, a difference of 2.8°.

Across the 7 cities in Yemen on this site, the Qibla ranges from 309.2° in Mukalla to 336.3° in Al Hudaydah, a spread of 27.1°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Yemen.

Qibla in cities near Aden

• Taiz333.6° · 142 km
• Ibb331.5° · 161 km
• Dhamar328.3° · 208 km
• Sanaa326.3° · 300 km
• Al Hudaydah336.3° · 318 km
• Mukalla309.2° · 483 km