Final Friday Prayer of Ramadan 2023 at Al-Aqsa Attended by 250,000 Worshippers
More than 3,200 Israeli regime police, border police and Shin Bet security agents were deployed on roads leading to the mosque in the holy city of al-Quds.
Ramadan is a rare chance for many Palestinians to visit Jerusalem al-Quds and pray at Al-Aqsa. For many, this was their first time in the city.
Ahmed Khassib, 51, from Ramallah, told Arab News: “I am delighted to be able to perform the fourth Friday prayer of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“I cannot obtain a permit to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque except on Fridays during Ramadan, so I wait for this opportunity throughout the year.”
Praying at the mosque, Khasib said, “carries a message that Al-Aqsa is for Muslims.”
During his Friday sermon, Sheikh Ekrimeh Sabri, the imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque, told worshippers: “You who came to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque from all parts of holy Palestine, you who have crossed the unjust military checkpoints, your march to the blessed Aqsa for the evening prayer and Taraweeh prayers is to remind the 2 billion Muslims of the world of the captive Al-Aqsa.”
Abd Al-Salam Abu Askar, a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip who lives in Ramallah, told Arab News that inflammatory comments about Al-Aqsa by far-right Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had made Palestinians more determined to challenge Israeli restrictions on worshipping there.
When they felt the mosque was in danger, he said, they flocked to it during Ramadan, especially on Fridays.
“If the military checkpoints surrounding the city of Jerusalem allowed all citizens of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to visit Al-Aqsa, the number of worshippers would exceed half a million today,” Abu Askar said.
Source: Arab News
