Cairo: A Saudi state agency in charge of the Prophet’s Mosque, Islam’s second holiest site, has introduced an app guiding worshippers to prayer places smoothly.
Dubbed the 'status of prayer places' at the Prophet’s Mosque, the service instantly allows users to learn about the occupancy capacity rates there before they head to the mosque, thus avoiding congestion.
Worshippers can access the service via the link: https://eserv.wmn.gov.sa/e-services/prayers_map/
According to the General Authority for Care of the Prophet’s Mosque, the service is available in Arabic, English, and Urdu. It uses colours to illustrate the capacity status in different prayer places at the sprawling mosque especially at peak times.
The green colour means the place is 'available'; yellow 'crowded'; pink 'full'; and grey 'unavailable'.
The service helps worshippers get smooth entry to and exit from the mosque, and backs up operational plans for crowd management during the current Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
The fasting month, which started Monday in Saudi Arabia, usually marks the peak season of Umrah at the Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest site, in Mecca.
After performing Umrah, many pilgrims would head to Medina to offer prayers at the Prophet’s Mosque and visit other Islamic landmarks in the city.
Authorities in charge of the Prophet’s Mosque have said they are well-prepared for serving large numbers of worshippers in Ramadan. More than 8.5 million iftar (fast-breaking) meals are estimated to be distributed to worshippers to break their dawn-to-dust fasting during Ramadan.
Some 2.5 million bottles of the blessed Zamzam water are set be given away at the mosque during the lunar month, noted for intense worshipping.
