The squares within and outside the Holy Mosque of Makkah witnessed in
Ramadan the biggest iftar in the world.
More than 12,000 metres of tablecloth were stretched daily for iftar along
the Mosque area for worshippers to end their fast. Officials in charge of the iftar i
n the Holy Mosque said its daily cost amounted to about one million Saudi riyals (Dh982,200).
Iftar does not take more than 15 minutes - from the time that people
stretch the tablecloths out to the clearing of the remaining food.
The area where people take iftar was cleaned as fast as possible in
order to leave room for people to perform Maghreb prayers.
The meal was served by various benefactors who are assisted by cleaning
boys.
The Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques Affairs divided the squares
around the Holy Mosque into various sections and assigned them to
charity givers willing to provide iftar for worshippers.
Iftar offered by these benefactors was made of dates, juice, milk, and
cakes.
The number of dates consumed daily by worshippers in the Holy Mosque
is estimated to be more than 5 million.
With about 1.2 million worshippers attending Maghreb prayers in the
Holy Mosque, that huge number still only equates to three dates per
person.
More than two million bottles of Zam Zam water were
consumed by worshippers during iftar.
In the Tawaf area inside the Holy Mosque, the iftar tablecloths were
not stretched until the last moment in order not to block the way for
worshippers who wanted to finish the Tawaf rituals before Maghreb
prayers.
|