Muslims celebrate Eid at park event

The annual event has been running for around a decade

About 2,000 Muslims have gathered for a public prayer event to celebrate Eid.

The annual Eid in the Park event takes place in Reading’s Palmer Park and has been running for about a decade.

Eid al-Fitr, which means festival of the breaking of the fast, is celebrated at the end of the holy month of Ramadan – when many Muslims fast.

Event organiser Ibrahim Nazir said it was a “chance for the community to come together and celebrate as one”.

“We’ve just completed 30 days of fasting and it’s really a celebration of one of the great acts of worship of Islam, which is the fast of Ramadan,” he continued.

The event attracted around 2,000 worshipers

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and it is during this month that Muslims believe the first verses of the Quran – Islam’s holy book – were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.

During this period, Muslims are required to fast, give to charity, show kindness and patience and to strengthen their relationship with God.

Mr Nazir said: “It’s not just the fast of food and drink, but also a training camp, you could say, so at the end of it you come out as a better human being and a better Muslim”.

Eid marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan

He added that Eid events were a chance to “really celebrate the feat” of completing Ramadan.

The event was organised by the Cumberland Road Mosque, with people from all ethnicities and backgrounds invited to attend.

As well as prayers and a sermon, there were ice cream vans, breakfast offerings and sweet stalls at the event.

Mr Nazir said people “absolutely love the idea of doing it out in the open and coming together”, and that “the kids love it as well”.

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