A video clip (here, here, & here) of a speech by Islamic cleric Twaha Siddiqui from Furfura Sharif in West Bengal is going viral on social media, claiming that he allegedly incited Muslims to prepare their children to ‘wage war against Hindus.’ In the video, we can hear Taha Siddiqui saying, “I am saying it today again, Muslims, wake up. Muslims, teach your children how to fight. Be ready. Be prepared. Fathers and mothers, prepare your children. We have to fight against Hindus” (translated from Bengali to English). Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Islamic cleric Twaha Siddiqui inciting Muslims to prepare their children to ‘wage war against Hindus.’
Fact: This viral video shows a speech delivered by Twaha Siddiqui on 27 January 2023. His speech has been clipped and is being shared out of context to disseminate misinformation. In the full version of his speech, he encourages Muslims to engage in a war against Hindus through education. Originally, Siddiqui urged Muslim children to compete with Hindus in terms of education. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Upon carefully observing the viral video, we noticed a watermark, ‘My Islam 786’. Taking a cue from this, we have located the longer version of the viral video posted on the YouTube channel ‘My Islam 786’ on 27 January 2023.
Upon reviewing the entire video, we found that the viral clip of Twaha Siddiqui starts at the timestamp 07:20 and ends at 08:04. From timestamp 07:20, Siddiqui can be heard saying, “Hey Muslims, wake up! Hey Muslims, teach your sons and daughters to fight; teach them to wage war. Get ready! Be present! Present the sons and daughters of Muslims. Fathers and mothers, get your sons and daughters ready. We have to fight a war against Hindus. We have to fight against Hindus” (translated from Bengali to English).
However, after the timestamp 08:04, Siddiqui explained that the war should be over education and not with weapons. From timestamp 08:04, Siddiqui can be heard saying, “After saying this, I can see the fear on all ministers’ faces. They think I am here to spark a communal fire. I reiterate, Muslims, get your children ready to fight Hindus and Christians. But the war must not be fought with swords, guns, and lathis. That war will be fought over education. A Muslim boy will compete with a Hindu boy over education, and a Muslim girl will compete with a Hindu girl over education. As they progress, Bengal’s Hindus and Muslims will unite and fight with education as their weapon” (translated from Bengali to English). This speech by Twaha Siddiqui was also livestreamed on the YouTube channel named ‘Waz Mahfil 21’ on 27 January 2023 and can be seen here.
From this, it is clear that a part of Siddiqui’s speech about Muslim and Hindu children competing in terms of education has been clipped and shared out of context to disseminate misinformation, suggesting that he incited Muslims to ‘wage a war against Hindus.’
According to a report published by ‘Times Now’ in June 2022, the Furfura cleric Twaha Siddiqui has been accused in the past of making derogatory remarks about Hinduism, and a complaint was filed against him on this basis.
To sum up, a clipped video is being shared out of context, claiming that Islamic cleric Twaha Siddiqui incited Muslims to prepare their children to ‘wage war against Hindus.’
