Eid al-Fitr 2025: Thousands enjoy celebrations across Maidenhead

Thousands of Muslims across Maidenhead gathered for prayers and celebrations to mark Eid al-Fitr at the weekend and earlier this week.

The celebrations marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan, which is one of the Five Pillars of Islam and sees Muslims across the world fast from dawn to dusk for about a month.

On Sunday, more than 2,000 people gathered at Kidwells Park for prayers and plenty of free food, refreshments and fun at a celebration organised by the Al-Tawheed Islamic Education Centre Maidenhead (TIECM).

The day began from 9am with a congregational prayer which was followed by a sermon.

Discussing the sermon, Dr Asif Ali, a local GP and chairman of TIECM, said: “The Imam talks about the importance of doing good for the community, changing lives for the better, helping the neighbour, helping the poor and continuing good deeds such as charity.”

Dr Ali said he believes attendance has ‘far exceeded the numbers of previous years’ and was ‘probably approaching 2,500’.

There were plenty of treats to enjoy including ice cream, refreshments, and pastries as well as additional desserts provided by BM Grill & Dessert in Queen Street.

Lots of youngsters were also enjoying the bouncy castles at the event.

Dr Ali added: “It’s really a unity event where we bring all the Muslim population together.

“Based on the feedback we’ve had from people, everybody’s really positive [and] thanking the TIECM community for putting on the event.

“We’ve got something for everyone, and I think people are really happy that this event is on and obviously the sunny weather has a major contribution to people’s happiness, and I think that’s really helped.”

TIECM is currently fundraising as part of its Sustaining Our Legacy project to purchase a community asset that can be used as an investment and will support education and other resources that the mosque requires on an on-going basis.

“We had a target of £500,000 [and] we’re within £60,000 of reaching that target and we hope to achieve that within the next three to six months so we can purchase a community asset,” Dr Ali added.

Celebrations continued on Monday as more than 2,000 people attended Maidenhead Mosque throughout the morning for prayers and festivities.

There were four sittings of the Eid prayer throughout the morning and plenty of refreshments and traditional sweets to enjoy.

Guests were treated to free Karak Chai, chocolates, sweets and ice cream.

Zia Mahiudin, a trustee of Maidenhead Mosque, said: “[It was a] wonderful occasion for families to unite and enjoy and also reflect, as we carry forward the lessons we have learned from Ramadan for self-improvement and charity.”

Zia added that the development of the new community centre is ‘progressing really well’, with the structure and roof already complete.

He added: “The windows and doors have been installed, and the rendering has been done. 

“Presently, the screeding is underway across all the floors and hopefully the internal work should be done by next Ramadan thanks to the continued generous support of the community.”