Ramadan Mass Iftar Table in Egypt Goes Viral on Social Media

Residents enjoy the mass iftar. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Residents enjoy the mass iftar. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Ramadan Mass Iftar Table in Egypt Goes Viral on Social Media

Residents enjoy the mass iftar. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Residents enjoy the mass iftar. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Social media users in Egypt have shared photographs of a mass street iftar table surrounded by dozens of people breaking their fast.

Before the sunset call to prayer, a 1,000-meter table was placed in the heart of the El Matareya neighborhood, Cairo.

This mass iftar looked like a celebration with the Ramadan decorations and lanterns swaying above the diners.

“People expressed how much they missed this mass iftar, which was a yearly tradition in the neighborhood and halted due to the pandemic,” said Amir Karam, admin of "Matareya Youth" page on Facebook.

“This mass iftar tradition debuted seven years ago, but it was canceled in the past two years because of the pandemic and health restrictions,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The table featured all kinds of food and deserts and required long hours of preparation. It was prepared by the neighborhood’s residents who shared the burden equally on this day to spend a few hours of companionship on a Ramadan night.

“The residents, from all ages, helped make this day happen. They spent money to buy needs, and prepared food. Some participated financially, some cooked, while others organized the sitting area, decorated the place and cleaned after the gathering,” said Karam, who helped organize the event.

The iftar was unique and one of a kind. It was covered with much interest by media outlets, photographers, and social media users, who shared pictures of it accompanied with captions praising the residents and their spirit for organizing such a gathering.



Intuitive Machines' Athena Lander Closing in on Lunar Touchdown Site

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex-39A carrying the Nova-C lunar lander Athena as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload initiative from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 26, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius/File Photo
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex-39A carrying the Nova-C lunar lander Athena as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload initiative from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 26, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius/File Photo
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Intuitive Machines' Athena Lander Closing in on Lunar Touchdown Site

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex-39A carrying the Nova-C lunar lander Athena as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload initiative from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 26, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius/File Photo
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex-39A carrying the Nova-C lunar lander Athena as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload initiative from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 26, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius/File Photo

Intuitive Machines sent final commands to its uncrewed Athena spacecraft on Thursday as it closed in on a landing spot near the moon's south pole, the company's second attempt to score a clean touchdown after making a lopsided landing last year.

After launching atop a SpaceX rocket on Feb. 26 from Florida, the six-legged Athena lander has flown a winding path to the moon some 238,000 miles (383,000 km) away from Earth, where it will attempt to land closer to the lunar south pole than any other spacecraft.

The landing is scheduled for 12:32 pm ET (1732 GMT). It will target Mons Mouton, a flat-topped mountain some 100 miles (160 km) from the lunar south pole, Reuters reported.

Five nations have made successful soft landings in the past - the then-Soviet Union, the US, China, India and, last year, Japan. The US and China are both rushing to put their astronauts on the moon later this decade, each courting allies and giving their private sectors a key role in spacecraft development.

India's first uncrewed moon landing, Chandrayaan-3 in 2023, touched down near the lunar south pole. The region is eyed by major space powers for its potential for resource extraction once humans return to the surface - subsurface water ice could theoretically be converted into rocket fuel.

The Houston-based company's first moon landing attempt almost exactly a year ago, using its Odysseus lander, marked the most successful touchdown attempt at the time by a private company.

But its hard touchdown - due to a faulty laser altimeter used to judge its distance from the ground - broke a lander leg and caused the craft to topple over, dooming many of its onboard experiments.

Austin-based Firefly Aerospace this month celebrated a clean touchdown of its Blue Ghost lander, making the most successful soft landing by a private company to date.

Intuitive Machines, Firefly, Astrobotic Technology and a handful of other companies are building lunar spacecraft under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, an effort to seed development of low-budget spacecraft that can scour the moon's surface before the US sends astronauts there around 2027.