Every Ramadan the holy city we see on our TV screens looks bigger and shinier than it did the year before
Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, is drawing to a close. The last 10 days are considered the holiest, and the focal point is the holiest of the cities, Mecca from where Ramadan evening and dawn prayers are broadcast on a live feed around the Muslim world.
Every Ramadan Mecca and the Grand Mosque, which lies is at its centre, look different: bigger, brighter, shinier. The Kaaba, the small shrouded building at the centre of the mosque, which could once be seen from any of the hills around it, is now obscured. The city has been a large construction site over the past 20 years, and the results are beginning to show. At night, all lit up and crowded with apartments and hotels, Mecca now looks like a Saudi interpretation of Gotham or even Las Vegas. A large, Big Ben-like clock tower looms over the centre, and shopping malls and high-rise blocks are being built in a circle around the pilgrimage zone.
Continue reading... Reported by guardian.co.uk 10 hours ago.
Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, is drawing to a close. The last 10 days are considered the holiest, and the focal point is the holiest of the cities, Mecca from where Ramadan evening and dawn prayers are broadcast on a live feed around the Muslim world.
Every Ramadan Mecca and the Grand Mosque, which lies is at its centre, look different: bigger, brighter, shinier. The Kaaba, the small shrouded building at the centre of the mosque, which could once be seen from any of the hills around it, is now obscured. The city has been a large construction site over the past 20 years, and the results are beginning to show. At night, all lit up and crowded with apartments and hotels, Mecca now looks like a Saudi interpretation of Gotham or even Las Vegas. A large, Big Ben-like clock tower looms over the centre, and shopping malls and high-rise blocks are being built in a circle around the pilgrimage zone.
Continue reading... Reported by guardian.co.uk 10 hours ago.