London's Muslim community draws large crowds for their 1st Eid after lifting of COVID restrictions

Thousands of people from London's Muslim community gathered together for Eid celebrations on Monday. The mass prayers are the first in-person event for the community after two years of pandemic-related restrictions.

"It's a great tradition for us to come together and we've been in a lock down for two years before this so missing out on it has been very difficult for the community. But this year we're very happy and grateful," said Imam Aarij Anwer of the London Muslim Mosque. 

The mass prayer was supposed to be an outdoor event held at the TD Waterhouse Stadium, but had to be relocated to the mosque at the last minute due to poor weather conditions. More than 4,000 people were in attendance, scattered in multiple prayer sessions throughout the day. 

Eid-al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month in which Muslims from around the world fast daily from sunrise to sunset. 

The festive day starts with a prayer service in the morning, after which people spend the rest of the day with their friends and family and exchange gifts with one another.

"It's a day of celebrating, eating, drinking, and having a good time, and to share our blessing with those who are less fortunate," Anwer said. "We make sure before we pray that we donate to charity, giving to those who are less fortunate, and then we pray."

Anwer said the community is overjoyed at finally being able to reunite in-person with their loved ones, which is a blessing they do not take for granted. 

"Being together is critical. The idea of Ramadan and Eid is bringing people together. It's as essential as abstaining from food and drink," he added. 

Moataz Abdrabou was thrilled to see so many members of his community after such a long time. 

"It's the first month in two years where we're actually able to go out and have group Iftaars [the meal which breaks a fast], so it's really nice to see all these people practicing their faith," he said. 

"It's been a very spiritual month, and this is like the fourth or fifth prayer and it's fully packed so they had to go for a sixth prayer."

Laura El Khodeir said she had a really productive and reflective Ramadan and she's glad the entire community can unite on this festive occasion. 

"The past few years were kind of rough because we couldn't pray in the mosque and you couldn't see people," she said. "There's so many people here today and it's nice to see this community stronger than ever."

Dana Hamad felt that Ramadan flew by this year but she's glad she was able to get back to the annual traditions she has with her family.