Old Video of Petrol Thrown at Kaaba Returns With Communal Angle
The man can be seen pouring a liquid on the cloth which covers the Kaaba and then shouting something in Arabic.
CLAIM
A video of a man pouring a liquid at the Kaaba in Mecca has gone viral with the narrative that an Iranian man is pouring milk on the Kaaba and claiming that their ancestors were Hindus. The caption along with the video also says that he claims that the Kaaba is a holy Shivalinga.
“ 🤔👌ईरान के यूवक ने मक्का 🕋मे दूध चढाया ओर बोला हमारे पूर्वज हिन्दू थे💪और ये पवित्र शिवलिंग है👌👇🙏🏻,” the caption reads.
In the video, the man, clad entirely in white, can be seen pouring a liquid on the black and gold cloth which covers the Kaaba and then shouting something in Arabic. After he does so, a group of devotees surround him and the site plummets into chaos, with a large crowd congregating on the spot.
The Kaaba is considered the holiest site in Islam.
The video has been shared multiple times on Facebook since 7 July.
TRUE OR FALSE?
However, this is not true. On conducting a search on Goggle using keywords ‘Kabba man throwing milk’, we came across an old video which had surfaced in February 2017, from an incident where a Saudi man threw petrol on the stone and then tried to douse himself with it and set himself alight.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
On looking carefully at the video, it can be seen that the liquid is not in fact milk, which would be white, but petrol.
Below is a video of the incident, which has been available since 2017, taken from a different angle, from when police arrived on the spot. The same man can be seen being taken away by the police.
Moreover, news reports from 2017 confirmed the same and mentioned that some eyewitnesses had earlier claimed the man was trying to set fire to the curtains which cover the Kaaba.
A Daily Express report from 2017 said that a pilgrim had said that he had seen a man pouring gasoline from a bottle on Kaaba and uttering takfiri expressions.
“I immediately held him and called for assistance from the people around me. The security men rushed to the scene and took him away," the pilgrim had said, describing the scene in the video.
A Gulf News report also said that the man they had arrested next to the Kaaba was trying to kill himself and not attempting to set the sacred cubic structure ablaze, as was reported.
The Quint also carried a report on the same incident.
The same video had also surfaced once in June 2018, describing the entire incident.
(With inputs from Gulf News and Daily Express.)
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