Ramadan Saudi Arabia
Muslims pray around the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque on the first day of Ramadan in the holy city of Mecca Reuters

Muslims the world over have applauded Snapchat for livestreaming prayers being held in Mecca, the most holy Islamic site, during Ramadan.

Millions of Muslims visit the holy city in Saudi Arabia during Ramadan to observe the five pillars of Islam which include fasting, belief, worship and charitable donations.

This is followed by the festival of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the anniversary of the Quran being revealed to Prophet Mohammed.

Depending on the sighting of the new moon, this year, Eid al-Fitr is expected to be celebrated on or around 17 July in the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the internet was abuzz with messages on social media by Muslims who were reminiscing their experience or saw the prayers being held live for the first time.

The move was a hit among non-Muslims as well, who shared their views on Twitter saying that now they were more aware of Muslim rituals.

Snapchat had on 14 July, streamed a five-minute-long live story of events of Mecca on #Mecca_Live, which was a combination of a few short clips, according to Al-Jazeera. Reports also claimed that as soon as the video was posted online it received over one million mentions.

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