Thousands of Muslims from all around the world made it happen on July 13. On one of the holiest nights of Ramadan, Laylat al Qadr (The Night of Power), social app Snapchat made #mecca_live a 'Live Story', curating a stream of photos and videos of people performing prayers in the Holy city of Mecca.
As we reported last week, Muslims had taken to social networking site Twitter to push the video messaging app to live stream the event on July 13. Snapchat allows users to send quick, punchy photos and videos — or "snaps" — that self-destruct a few seconds after being viewed. The "Live Stories" feature allows Snapchatters at the same event or location to contribute snaps to the same story.
BCC reported that more than 300,000 people contributed to the stream using the hashtag #mecca_live.
From Muslims performing the Tawaf around the Ka’bah, to watching millions bow down in prayer in unison, social media users of all faiths around the world were given a quick lesson in the Islamic culture and a glimpse of the Ramadan traditions at Islam’s holiest site.
@ecelumba tweeted: "I'm not Muslim, but thank you, @Snapchat for opening my eyes to how beautiful and captivating the world of Islam truly is. #mecca_live"
A lot of non-Muslims found the images coming out of Mecca inspiring. @VAPING tweeted: "As a non-muslim I would like to ask something, is it easy to convert into Islam? It's just that after seeing #mecca_liveI fell like in love."
Another Twitter user, @ingloreus, wrote: not Muslim but after I saw #mecca_live I decided to convert.
Muslims praised the speed at which the app managed to spread an understanding of the religion.
@_rabka wrote on Twitter: "#mecca_live has shown the world what Islam really is. @Snapchat story has done what media has failed to do till date."
@eshurne from Maldives added: "@Snapchat did what news media failed to do in ages in seconds. Thank you for showing true Islam to the world #mecca_live "
@fari_670 from Dubai tweeted: "Amazed by the #Snapchat #Story about the beautiful and blessed #mecca_live. proud of being a blessed #Muslim Alhumdulilah #Dubai"
aahmed@thenational.ae