Qibla direction in Chingola

How to face the Qibla in Chingola

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 19.2° towards east: the result is the bearing of 19.2°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at north would leave you about 19° 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 Chingola to Mecca points to 19.1°, only 0.1° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 19.2° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 12.5290° S, 27.8838° 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 Chingola to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,994 km from Chingola as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,306 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 12 min, although most pilgrims from Chingola connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Chingola 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 Chingola rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Chingola

On 253 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Chingola 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 12:14 local time.

On 112 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 12:28.

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

Chingola compared with other cities

Compared with Lusaka, 323 km away, the Qibla in Chingola is turned 1.8° further clockwise (19.2° against 17.4°), and Mecca is 290 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Chililabombwe (19 km), prays towards 19.3°, a difference of 0.2°.

Across the 16 cities in Zambia on this site, the Qibla ranges from 11.5° in Chipata to 24.5° in Mongu, a spread of 13.0°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Zambia.

Qibla in cities near Chingola

• Chililabombwe19.3° · 19 km
• Mufulira18.6° · 39 km
• Kitwe18.6° · 47 km
• Luanshya18.1° · 89 km
• Ndola17.9° · 95 km
• Solwezi21.5° · 167 km