Over 5m pray in Islam’s 2nd holiest mosque in a week
Worshippers get access to a multitude of services in Prophet’s Mosque
Cairo: The Prophet’s Mosque, Islam’s second holiest site in the Saudi city of Medina, received more than 5 million worshippers and visitors in a week amid a seamless network of services and care, according to official figures.
The General Authority for Care of the Prophet’s Mosque, a state agency in charge of the place, said 5.4 million worshippers prayed in the mosque last week. They included 230,823 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 site, and show up according to the fixed appointment to get smooth access.
During the same week,77,054 worshippers of different nationalities had access to the multilingual communication services available in the mosque.
Sterilisation and disinfection works were, meanwhile, conducted with 24,176 litres, a report from the agency showed.
Additionally, 1,570 tons of Zamzam water were made available to the faithful as 144,352 fast-ending (iftar) meals were distributed at designated sites in the mosque.
After performing Umrah or minor pilgrimage in the Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest site in Mecca, many pilgrims flock to Medina to offer prayers in the Prophet’s Mosque.
More than 280 million Muslims prayed in the mosque in 2023.