Recently, several Islamic countries have condemned the alleged insulting remarks of BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma on Prophet Muhammad. In that context, a video is being shared widely on social media with a claim that it shows the crowd protesting the comments of Nupur Sharma. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent video of the crowd protesting the comments of Nupur Sharma on Prophet Muhammad.
Fact: The posted video is an old one. It is not related to the recent comments made by Nupur Sharma on Prophet Muhammad. The video is from Lahore in Pakistan, and are from the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi’s Chehlum held on 03 January 2021. Chehlum is a religious observance in Islam held 40 days after the death of the person. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When the screenshots of the video were run through Google Reverse Image Search, the same video was found on YouTube. The video was uploaded on 04 January 2021 with the title – “Allama Khadim Hussain Rizvi Chehlum I TLP Chehlum 2021”. Chehlum is a religious observance in Islam held 40 days after the death of a person.
On 19 November 2020, the chief of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Khadim Hussain Rizvi passed away at the age of 54. His Chehlum (which is the religious observance) was observed on 03 January 2021 near Mosque Rehmatul Lil Alameen at Multan Road’s Battery Stop in Lahore. The visuals seen in the viral video are from this Chehlum which was attended by thousands of people in Pakistan. So, the posted video is an old one and it is not related to the recent comments made by Nupur Sharma on Prophet Muhammad.
Some of the recent visuals related to protests against Nupur Sharma’s remarks can be seen here and here.
To sum it up, an old unrelated video is shared as recent visuals of the crowd protesting the comments of Nupur Sharma on Prophet Muhammad.
Update (08 June 2022):
Another video is also being widely shared on social media with a similar claim.
However, on doing a reverse image search on the screenshots of the video, it was found that the posted video is an old one. A TikTok user posted a similar video on his account in April 2022 whereas Nupur Sharma made her comments recently, in the last week of May 2022. So, the video is not related to the latest controversy.
Update (08 June 2022):
This video is also an old one. When the screenshots of the video were run through Google Reverse Image, a similar video was found in the search results. The video was posted by a TikTok user in April 2021. So, this video is also not related to the current protests against the statements of Nupur Sharma.
Similar visuals can be found in a YouTube video posted by ‘VOA’ news channel on ‘10 November 2019’. ‘AFPTV’ shared a video with similar visuals on the ‘Getty Images’ website. ‘UPRISING TODAY’ news website published an article about this event. It is mentioned in the article that millions of Yemenis gathered at the 70th square in Capital Sanaa to celebrate and commemorate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad. Also, we already fact-checked this video when it went viral previously with a different fake claim. So, this is also not related to the latest controversy.
Update (15 June 2022):
The same video (the first video in the article), which was previously shared as a video of the crowd protesting the comments of Nupur Sharma on Prophet Muhammad, is now being shared as a crowd chanting Hanuman Chalisa on a road in Jaipur. However, as concluded above, the video is from Lahore in Pakistan and is from the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi’s Chehlum held on 03 January 2021. So, the claim made in the latest post is also not true.
