Al-Aqsa Mosque Meets Ramadan with Holy Quran, Lights
There's the bustle to prepare the mosque for the hundreds of thousands of Muslims who will come to pray.
Palestinians employed by the Waqf, the Islamic trust that oversees the mosque and the ancient compound that surrounds it, set up tents for fasting worshippers to take respite from the heat alongside the golden Dome of the Rock, the site where the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is said to have ascended to heaven.
Around the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, shopkeepers stock up on Ramadan essentials, including bright lights for decorations and holy Qurans and prayer beads for recitations.
Issam Zughaiar, 67, sells ornate Ramadan lanterns, called fanous, in the Old City's winding covered market. Each year he visits factories around Jerusalem and neighbouring Jordan and Egypt to handpick his selection.
The twisting alleyways are filled with the scent of sweets eaten at Iftar, the nightly breaking of the fast, including atayef, sugar-soaked pancakes with cheese or nuts, and date-filled ajwa cookies.
Israeli regime controls access to the mosque and they have restricted access to the compound.
For now though, the politics has been pushed into the background by the bustle and energy of Ramadan preparations.
"What will happen in Ramadan, what the security situation will be like, whether Jerusalem be will be open, whether the mosque will be open, we are always optimistic," said Abed al-Rahim Sader Helmi Ansari, who works at Masjid Al-Aqsa.
Source: The News
