The holy month of Ramadan this year comes to the British capital, London, in a new style that the city has not seen before. After lighting the Ramadan lights in Piccadilly Square in the heart of the capital last week, in a historic precedent not seen in Britain, prominent places hosted a series of collective iftars for Muslims and local communities to celebrate the advent of the holy month and the participation of Muslims in their rituals.
From inside the stands of the London club Chelsea, located to the west of the capital, the voice of the muezzin at Stamford Bridge stadium sounded at sunset on the fourth day of Ramadan, marking the time for iftar for hundreds of the Muslim community who flocked to the club’s headquarters to eat breakfast.
Breaking fasts of all ages sat beside the green stadium floor, drinking juices and breakfast food in a joyful, festive Ramadan atmosphere. In an exceptional event that made Chelsea the first club in the history of the English Premier League to host a collective breakfast and raise the call to prayer.
An invitation was extended to attend the group breakfast for a number of local mosques in Fulham and Chelsea, and a large number of members of the Muslim community in the upscale London neighborhood, especially club supporters and school students, along with Chelsea FC employees.
In turn, the ancient London club said in a statement that the collective breakfast "It is the UK’s largest community event during Ramadan"adding that "Open Iftar for Muslims celebrating the month of Ramadan provides an opportunity to gather to break the fast together as well as providing a space for dialogue and mutual participation". Simon Taylor, chairman of the Chelsea Foundation, says: "He feels very proud to be the first club in the Premier League to organize an Iftar, and we welcome everyone". He added that celebrating the month of Ramadan and our Muslim community is an important aspect of the club’s work in promoting religious tolerance.
For his part, Daniel Finkelstein, a member of the House of Lords for the ruling Conservative Party and a member of the Chelsea FC board of directors, delivered a speech to the crowds of people who are fasting, in which he said that "Today’s collective iftar is a welcome message to the community and everyone who is part of Chelsea and every Muslim". The historic breakfast was organized in cooperation with a project "Ramadan tent", a charitable foundation established in 2013 to integrate the community. The project aims to bring communities together and develop the concept of Ramadan.
Group breakfasts were not limited to Chelsea FC. It was preceded by a unique group breakfast held in a museum "Victoria and Albert"One of the largest art museums in the world, located in west London. This group breakfast witnessed the presence of about 500 people from the Muslim community, as the fasting people flocked to one of the most famous halls of the museum, which is / Raphael Hall /, to eat breakfast meals after long hours of fasting in a spiritual atmosphere.
After eating breakfast, the crowds of worshipers performed the Isha and Tarawih prayers inside the corridors of the ancient museum, after the muezzin raised the call to prayer, in an unprecedented spiritual scene in British museums. The museum itself welcomed the holy month with a unique exhibition that included the creation of a model "Ramadan Pavilion 2023" Which includes a huge model of a mosque designed by the architectural artist Shahid Selim, and it is considered a masterpiece inspired by the holy month of Ramadan. The exhibition is accompanied by a series of public programs that focus on arts and creativity, including some events, workshops, performances and open iftars.
Project founders say "Ramadan tent"Ramadan this year coincides with the anniversary of ten exceptional years of the project, which witnessed the holding of open iftar parties. They added, in a statement, that over the past nine years, our humble tent has grown on a patch of green land, before moving to prominent locations.". The project founders pointed out that in Ramadan 2023, "The title of affiliation was chosen to be launched at the group breakfast that we held this year, as we were able to integrate more than half a million people from all backgrounds at one table, as our passion is to connect different communities".
Collective Ramadan Iftars are not limited to prominent venues in London only. A collective Iftar was held in Bradford Cathedral, in the north of England, where more than five hundred invitees from Muslim and other communities attended the Iftar. These group iftar parties were well received and widely praised in British circles. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, for example, posted a video praising him "Leading Muslim societies in the generous rituals of holding collective iftar meals..and doing exemplary work in opening the iftar tables to the public on a large scale"And the Archbishop considered these collective breakfasts "A celebration of friendship across religions".
Collective Iftars will not be the last in London, as similar Iftars are scheduled to be held throughout the days of the holy month of Ramadan in several prominent landmarks in London such as Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Wembley Stadium and the Royal Albert Hall for Concerts in Kensington, West London. Open Iftar parties are witnessing a great turnout from Muslims in Britain, as all attendance cards run out as soon as they are put on the Internet, despite the multiplicity of places and days in which they are held.
