Hundreds of Muslims performed Eid prayer after an IKEA store near Frankfurt in west Germany handed over its car park to allow socially-distanced mass prayers.
Drone footage from the gathering on Sunday in Wetzlar, near Frankfurt, showed 800 worshippers praying together from a safe distance.
“The closing prayer with all Muslims in Wetzlar was like a reward for us,” a mosque chairman told BBC News.
Social media users shared pictures of the Eid prayer widely, with many complimenting the mosque for finding a safe way for the community to pray together and praising IKEA for the initiative.
The chairman of The Islamic Community Milli Goruş (IGMG) Wetzlar FATİH CAMİİ mosque, Kadir Terzi, approached Ikea last week without much expectations for a positive response.
“But the store manager didn’t hesitate for a second and said ‘yes, you can pray’. I was surprised and happy at the same time,” Terzi explained.
The group has since thanked all those who helped make the ‘extraordinary prayer’ session possible, including local police.
On Facebook the group said: “We congratulate all the Islamic world and Muslims with our sincere wishes. We wish our Lord to bring you many more holidays.
“We have done holiday prayer as a nation in the open air with 700 people. May my Lord always keep our unity and solidarity.”
Another post added: “We would like to express our gratitude to the Wetzlar police, the Wetzlar regulatory office, to IKEA Wetzlar and others that made this extraordinary prayer possible […] Thank you so much.”