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Oud, Musk Fragrances Welcome Visitors to Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah during Ramadan

The Agency of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Prophet's Mosque has provided 28 kg of luxurious natural oud and 300 liters of fragrances and essential oils to perfume the Prophet’s Mosque and its visitors.
The Agency of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Prophet's Mosque has provided 28 kg of luxurious natural oud and 300 liters of fragrances and essential oils to perfume the Prophet’s Mosque and its visitors.
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Oud, Musk Fragrances Welcome Visitors to Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah during Ramadan

The Agency of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Prophet's Mosque has provided 28 kg of luxurious natural oud and 300 liters of fragrances and essential oils to perfume the Prophet’s Mosque and its visitors.
The Agency of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Prophet's Mosque has provided 28 kg of luxurious natural oud and 300 liters of fragrances and essential oils to perfume the Prophet’s Mosque and its visitors.

Visitors to the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, Saudi Arabia, this Ramadan are set to experience tranquility and comfort away from the world’s troubles, allowing them to observe prayers and rituals in peace.

During Ramadan, Islam’s holy month of fasting, the mosque is traditionally filled with the whispers of worshipers and Quran reciters and the fragrant scent of oud, amber, and musk.

The Agency of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Prophet's Mosque has provided 28 kg of luxurious natural oud and 300 liters of fragrances and essential oils to perfume the Prophet’s Mosque and its visitors.

Throughout the month, the agency would have fragranced the mosque over 600 times.

Besides perfuming the premises, the agency has also intensified its efforts to sterilize the mosque and its facilities as part of efforts to provide services to visitors of the Prophet’s Mosque.

Statistics released by the agency show that the mosque and its courtyards are sterilized five times a day, and that toilets are cleaned about 10 times a day.

A total of 300 machines clean the carpets at the mosque and 92 machines, carrying 18,000 liters of environmentally friendly sterilizers, wash its floors.

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From Homeless to Tour Guide: Londoners Lead the Way Round the Streets They Know Best 

Unseen Tours guide Stefan Gordon, leads a tour around Canary Wharf's West India Quay in London, Britain, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
Unseen Tours guide Stefan Gordon, leads a tour around Canary Wharf's West India Quay in London, Britain, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
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From Homeless to Tour Guide: Londoners Lead the Way Round the Streets They Know Best 

Unseen Tours guide Stefan Gordon, leads a tour around Canary Wharf's West India Quay in London, Britain, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
Unseen Tours guide Stefan Gordon, leads a tour around Canary Wharf's West India Quay in London, Britain, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)

Stefan Gordon spent three years in a homeless shelter in London after a family rift left him without a roof over his head. Now he is using his past experience to tell the often hidden story of one of the capital's wealthiest areas.

Gordon, 31, is one of several formerly homeless people trained by Unseen Tours to lead guided walks in different London neighborhoods. The charity's aim is to reduce the stigma around homelessness and value people's potential.

"My view of homelessness is a person without a home... (but) just because they don't have a home, we can still do stuff," Gordon told Reuters as he led a group tour of Canary Wharf and West India Quay in east London.

In the 18th and 19th centuries the area, now the capital's business hub, was home to a large dock complex built to receive products such as sugar from the Caribbean, where enslaved people were forced to work on plantations.

The docks were created by and for merchants, but many of those who worked there were often badly paid and lived in poor conditions, something Gordon says he can relate to.

"Lots of people used to sleep in lodging houses and the hostel where I slept was an emergency lodging house so I kind of related a lot to that," Gordon said. "It was very, very tough back then... It's still tough now."

Gordon, who has autism, is now living with his mother and has been a guide since February. He gets paid 60% of the value of each tour ticket while the remainder is reinvested into Unseen Tours to cover operating costs and train new guides.

Unseen Tours' director of communication, Charlotte Cassedanne, said the guides, with help from the organization, research and design their own tours, and can incorporate their personal stories into their walks if they wish to do so.

They have been running for more than a decade, and 30,000 visitors have taken part in their tours. With six guides trained so far, Unseen Tours is currently fundraising to train three more.

"When you experience homelessness, you become sort of less than human... People ignore you daily... Putting them at the center of the storytelling really helps them have agency again," Cassedanne said.