Mecca Wins Snapchat

So in what is kind of the perfect ending to the holy month, Mecca basically just won Snapchat when Muslim users of the app in the holy city last night flooded the feed with images documenting their experience, as the Live stories concept hit theKSA. It rapidly escalated into a social media phenomenon last night with the myriad of shots and even more comments about them.

So far, during the month of Ramadan almost 15 million Muslims made the pilgrimage to Mecca, but last night in particular, which was believed to be Laylat Al-Qadr, Snapchat’s story exploded with an avalanche of photos from within the city. The push to get a Mecca story on Snapchat began earlier last week when the app featured a story from the West Bank, but last night’s reaction was unprecedented as millions of eyes were suddenly fixed on the holy city as users posted about the events unfolding within it, using the hashtag #Mecca_Live – it rapidly rippled out to even start trending on Twitter.

Mecca is a particularly interesting case because the city is closed to non-Muslims, meaning the images being shared gave outsiders a look behind the proverbial curtain as to what is possibly the very epicentre of Islam. Users around the world took to social media to talk about the beautiful sentiments of unity and peace behind the imagery.

Take a look at some more of the comments below. 

Today I'm happy that true Islam was represented via #mecca_live and not CNN nor Fox News. Thankyou #snapchat😊😊😊😊😊 pic.twitter.com/fDu1RuErSV

— Nabila (@Bellaljufri) July 14, 2015

As a Muslim, this makes me very happy ❤ #mecca_live #snapchat pic.twitter.com/WnkapD6fCu

— ╰╮ ε∽r a a ╰╮ (@esoooo24_) July 14, 2015

Best snapchat story ever. #mecca_live pic.twitter.com/EMrUl2uOFC

— GM (@GM491) July 13, 2015

The story behind #mecca_live on @Snapchat http://t.co/A2LvC5d8af #مكة_لايف pic.twitter.com/Ek03ZE8FEd

— BBC Trending (@BBCtrending) July 13, 2015