Over 5m flock to Islam’s 2nd holiest mosque in a week

Cairo: The Prophet’s Mosque, Islam’s second holiest site in the Saudi city of Medina, last week received 5.2 million worshippers and visitors, who had access to a seamless network of services and care, official figures have shown.

The General Authority for Care of the Prophet’s Mosque, a state agency in charge of the place, said the figure included 243,800 who visited and prayed at Al Rawda Al Sharifa where the tomb of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) is located in the mosque.

The visits were made according to crowd-management rules and separate schedules set for women and men.

Saudi authorities have repeatedly stressed that visitors to Al Rawda Al Sharifa must make prior reservations before arriving at the revered site, and show up according to the fixed appointment to get smooth access.

Also, during the past week,75,898 worshippers of different nationalities benefited from multilingual communication services available in the mosque.

Sterilisation and disinfection works were conducted, the agency said.

Moreover, 1,570 tons of the blessed Zamzam water were provided for the faithful as 121,560 fast-breaking (iftar) meals were distributed at designated places in the mosque.

After performing Umrah or minor pilgrimage in the Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest site in the Saudi city of Mecca, many pilgrims would head to Medina to offer prayers in the Prophet’s Mosque.

More than 280 million Muslims prayed in the mosque in 2023.