MADINAH – The Prophet's Mosque has seen a record number of visitors during the the holy month of Ramadan this year. Thanks to the recent expansion of the mosque, the capacity to accommodate even greater numbers has been universally applauded by worshippers from all over the world. Nasser Al-Sa'doun from Kuwait, Ibrahim Yazji from Algeria, Muhammad Al-Touqa from Tunisia and Ismail Amin from Egypt said the Kingdom's government deserves credit for the expansion of the Prophet's Mosque. They also lauded the services being provided to help make worshippers' experience a pleasure. Abdulwahid Al-Hattab, Director of Public Relations at the Prophet's Mosque Agency, said 1,300 employees are working round-the-clock to ensure the comfort and ease of all worshippers. Their duties include opening hundreds of canopies to shield worshippers from the sun, making sure the internal walkways are not obstructed in any way and laying out of over 10,000 carpets throughout the Mosque including the roof and parts of the courtyards. A team of specialist engineers are also permanently onsite to make sure everything is fully functioning at all times - this includes the mosque's state of the art sound, lighting and air-conditioning systems. Commenting on the huge expansion on the East side, Al-Hattab said, “The new expansion has raised the number of gates of the Prophet's Mosque to 100. In order to lessen the impact of the summer heat on worshippers, 436 misting fans have been installed, in addition to 250 regular fans. Al-Hattab confirmed the capacity of the Prophet's Mosque at peak hours now reaches one million worshippers with the areas covered with canopies accommodating up to 250,000 and the courtyards taking up the remainder.
