800 Muslims use Ikea parking lot for socially distanced Ramadan prayer

About 800 Muslims used an Ikea parking lot in Germany for a socially distanced Ramadan prayer on Sunday.

Hundreds of Muslims prayed and listened to an imam’s sermon in the parking lot near Frankfurt, celebrating the end to the holy month. 

The chairman of a Wetzlar mosque, Kadir Terzi, told BBC that he asked Ikea about planning a socially distanced prayer last week. He said he had little confidence the store would approve, but added that the “store manager didn’t hesitate for a second.”

The mosque asked its congregants to bring prayer mats and wear face masks to the parking lot prayer. It also reminded residents that Germany’s restrictions forbid children under 12 from being in public and require all people keep apart.

Eid Mubarak all✨

Especially to this Ikea branch in Germany.

Local Muslims asked if they can use the car park for prayers in order to maintain distancing per regulations. And Ikea said yes pic.twitter.com/6EDLmjkY9I

— Abdirahim Saeed (@AbdirahimS) May 24, 2020

Germany has allowed places of worship to reopen as long as its coronavirus restrictions are met. 

The Ikea parking lot prayer spread over social media, with many users celebrating the mosque’s discovery of a safe way to worship.

Terzi said the prayer marked the end to an abnormal Ramadan month.

“It was a completely different Ramadan month, without contacts, without visits and without breaking the fast together,” he said, according to BBC.