Wolverhampton Eid event judged a success as 5,000 attend
Muslims from across Wolverhampton were able to come together to pray in glorious sunshine.
More than 5,000 people attended an open air Eid in the Park on Dunstall Peace Park, next to the Jamia Masjid Al-Aqsa Wolverhampton Central Mosque on Saturday.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was the first chance since 2019 that worshippers in the city had been able to attend the event, which celebrates Eid ul-Adha and commemorates Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael to God.
It saw Muslims from Wolverhampton and further afield come to join in the worship on what was a hot and sunny day, with all three city MPs also in attendance.
Sohail Khan, Councillor for Tettenhall Regis and a member of the mosque, had been involved in the organisation and said he felt it had been a huge success.
He said: "It was a massive success and showed how much I and other people who organised the previous one in 2019 had learned about putting such an event on.
"We had a lot of help from our sponsors and all the blue light services who turned up to help out and we were honoured to have all three of the city MPs there.
"Most importantly, it was great to see all the people who came and it was really important to be able to do this outside, with the weather being really beautiful and I just think it was a fantastic day."
Councillor Khan said there were also discussions about whether to move it to a bigger venue in the future, having seen the numbers increase from a couple of thousand in 2019 to more than 5,000 at the event on Saturday.
He said: "We may look at bigger in the future, but what this event showed is the real diversity we have in our community and the message that we are all equals and should be able to celebrate together."
