A video (here, here, and here) has gone viral on social media, featuring a man in traditional Arab attire making a speech, stating that Hinduism existed in India before Islam, asserting that Kashmir is Hindu land, and arguing that Pakistan has no right to discuss it. The post claims that the speaker is the Crown Prince of the UAE. Let’s investigate the truth behind this claim.
Claim: The viral video shows the UAE Crown Prince saying Kashmir is Hindu land.
Fact: The person in the viral video is not the UAE Crown Prince but Mohammad Tawhidi, an Iran-born Australian Muslim scholar known as the Imam of Peace. He mentioned that Kashmir is Hindu land during a conversation with Rajiv Malhotra and Vishwa Adluri at ‘Arth – A Culture Fest’, held at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) in Delhi in February 2019. Hence the claim is FALSE.
To find the truth, we conducted a reverse image search on Google, which led us to a Facebook handle that uploaded the same video on 9 August 2019, with the caption, “Imam of Peace Mohamad Tawhidi On Kashmir.”
Further research using the keywords from the Facebook post led us to a news report by DNA English from 25 August 2020. The report stated that Imam Mohamad Tawhidi, who describes himself as a “Reformist Imam” and “Ordained Scholar” said that “Kashmir was never part of Pakistan” and that both “Pakistan and Kashmir belong to India.” The Imam also stated that “India is older than Islam, let alone Pakistan” and that the “entire region is Hindu land.”
Additional research revealed that this viral video is a clip from a 59-minute video uploaded on YouTube by Arth – A Culture Fest titled “The Importance of Inter-Faith Dialogues” in a conversation with Rajiv Malhotra and Vishwa Adluri. The event was held at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) in Delhi from 8 to 10 February 2019. In this video, the speaker is introduced as Imam Mohammad Tawhidi, also known as the “Imam of Peace,” an Iranian-born Australian scholar.
Imam Tawhidi’s official website and Instagram handle refer to him as the Imam of Peace.
Meanwhile, in August 2019, the Indian government’s decision to abrogate Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was making headlines. The UAE’s Ambassador to India, Dr. Ahmad Al Banna, expressed support for the move, stating that such steps are important for reducing regional disparity and improving governance efficiency. In response, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the UAE Crown Prince and high-ranking government officials for their support.
This video went viral after the visit of UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who arrived in India on an official visit on 9 and 10 September 2024.
To sum up, an old video of an Iranian-born Australian Imam is falsely shared as the UAE Crown Prince’s comment on Jammu and Kashmir.
