UP man named ‘Muhammad Azharuddin’ converting to Hinduism misconstrued as former cricketer Azharuddin
A social media post shares a collage of images, claiming that former cricketer Azharuddin, along with his wife and son, renounced Islam in Kashi. The post further alleges that influenced by Sanatan culture, Azharuddin’s family adopted Sanatan Dharm and that he changed his name to ‘W Singh’ (here & here). In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin, along with his wife and son, renounced Islam in Kashi, and adopted Sanatan Dharma.
Fact: There are no credible reports of former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin renouncing Islam and embracing Sanatan Dharm. The news about an individual named “Muhammad Azharuddin” from Uttar Pradesh renouncing Islam and converting to Hinduism has been misconstrued as referring to the former cricketer. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Firstly, there are no credible reports about former India Cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin renouncing Islam or embracing Hinduism. If this had taken place, mainstream media would have covered it, but we could not find such reports.
Further, a search using relevant keywords led us to a news report featuring the same image from the viral photo collage. According to this report, Muhammad Azharuddin, a resident of Bichhiya village in Chandauli district, adopted Sanatan Dharm and changed his name to W Singh. He, along with his wife and son, underwent purification rituals and began reciting Vedic mantras.
Another news article reporting the same story can be viewed here. Featuring the same viral image, the report identified the individual as Mohammad Azharuddin, stating that he renounced Islam and embraced Hinduism. This clearly indicates that the news about an individual named Muhammad Azharuddin converting to Hinduism could have been misconstrued as referring to the former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin.
To sum up, an individual named “Muhammad Azharuddin” from UP converting to Hinduism has been misconstrued as former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin.