Thousands from the Muslim community celebrated the end of the holy month of Ramadan in Followfield. It is estimated that just over 20K people attended 'Eid in the Park' on Platt Fields Park making it the largest outdoor Eid prayer in the country this year.
For the past 30 days, Muslims have been observing Ramadan which is a month filled with fasting, prayer and reflection. Today (April 21) the park was filled with scenes of joy and communion as friends, families and neighbours gathered to pray, eat and celebrate.
READ MORE: Eid al-Fitr 2023 in Pictures: Manchester and across the world
Organisers of the event which has been taking place for seven years, believe Eid al Fitr 2023 was their biggest yet thanks to the few hours of sunshine that Manchester was blessed with which allowed prayers to go ahead at 9:45am. The weather was a contentious issue with organisers worried that it would lead to a cancellation of the outdoor prayer like the one seen for the Eid prayer at Small Heath Park in Birmingham.
The Ahmed family were one of the thousands to arrive at the prayer. From Chester, the mother told the MEN: “This is our first time and it’s beautiful to see.”
Platt Fields Park was so busy that many were still entering the park well after prayer had started. 'Eid in the Park' regular Kotieb spoke to the MEN and said: “I come every year. It’s amazing to celebrate Eid with so many people, I love it. Ramadan this year was amazing, the weather was nice so it wasn’t too hot and it flew by.”
Another worshipper who was astounded at the amount of people who turned up said: “Today is amazing. Manchester is just different.”
Another worshipper from Manchester who came with her mother said: “Days like this are important. It feels great to pray among other Muslims after the long month of fasting we had.”
Speaking on another successful event, co-organiser “Its another successful Eid in the Park, absolutely delighted that the rain stayed away so we can officially say that this year we were the largest outdoor Eid prayer in the UK, the car park was absolutely jam packed.
“A lot of the credit goes to the volunteers, If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t be able to put this on.
“They were here last night until 9pm and this morning they were here from 5am to make sure everything was ready for the start of the day. It was so wonderful to see families getting together from all different backgrounds and that’s what it’s about.
“Mosques don’t have the capacity and they have to do multiple prayers, here everybody can all come together and have picnics, enjoy the stalls the fun fair is open so they can make a nice day out of it."
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