BERLIN: Folks online praised IKEA store in west Germany after it handed over its car park to a local mosque for socially-distanced mass Eid prayer.
With many people practising social distancing amid the coronavirus, a mosque in Wetzlar, according to reports, asked if they could use currently unoccupied parking lot of IKEA store near Frankfurt as a community spot for physical-distancing-safe congregating but wasn’t hopeful he would receive a positive response.
Surprisingly, the mosque got the green light and around 800 Muslims offered the Eid-ul-Fitr prayer while maintaining social distancing.
The mosque, IGMG Wetzlar FATIH CAMII, publicly thanked IKEA’s management. It posted on Twitter : “We would like to thank the Wetzlar police, the Wetzlar public order office, Ikea Wetzlar management, brothers, and all who contributed to making this extraordinary holiday prayer possible.”
Video and pictures posted on social media shows hundreds of people wearing masks performed their the Eid prayer.
The gesture by IKEA is praised online with many calling the event “beautiful,” “uplifting” and a “gorgeous sight.”