Almost 19 million people worshipped in the third expansion of the Grand Mosque in Makkah during Ramadan, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The director of the General Administration of the Third Saudi Expansion at the Grand Mosque, Walid Al-Masoudi, said the expansion had received more than 500,000 worshippers per hour at a rate of 250,000 inside the expansion and more than 250,000 in the squares.
He stressed that these efforts came under the directives of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques in fulfillment of the aspirations of the Saudi leadership, reports Arab News.
At the start of Ramadan, 80 new prayer halls that form part of the third phase of expansion opened to worshippers for the first time. Al-Masoudi said worshippers were divided throughout the days of the holy month on all floors of the expansion building, on the ground floor, first floor, first mezzanine, second floor, second mezzanine, the balconies, and the surrounding northern and western squares.