No, a Shivling Was Not Spotted in the Holy City of Mecca

The photo is of Rukn al-Yamani, one of the corners of the Kaaba in Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

A photo is being widely shared on the internet with the claim that, for the first time in history, in the holy city of 'Mecca Medina', a Shivling (a structure representing Lord Shiva) was being shown.

However, we found that the figure shown in the viral image is Rukn-e-Yamani, also called Rukn-al-Yamani of the Kaaba, a cube-shaped structure at the centre of Islam's most sacred site, Masjid al-Haram or the Great Mosque of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Also, Medina and Mecca are two different cities. Medina is considered to be the second-holiest of three cities in Islam, the other two being Mecca and Jerusalem.

CLAIM

Social media users are sharing the photo with the claim that reads in Hindi, "इतिहास में पहली बार मक्का मदीना का शिवलिंग दिखाया गया हे सभी हिन्दू भाई चुके नही शेयर जरूर करे."

(Translation: For the first time in history, the Shivling of Mecca Medina is being shown, please share this.)

The post is massively viral on Facebook.

Several social media users have shared the post and the archived links can be found here, here, and here. The same caption has been shared earlier too in 2017, albeit a different photo and the archived link can be accessed here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

Upon a reverse image, we found the same image on flickr, a photo sharing platform, uploaded on 6 January 2012.

The caption with the image that was uploaded reads, 'roknay yamani'. We used this caption to run a Google search and found an article titled '6 Facts About Rukn-e-Yamani of the Holy Kaaba', which carried a similar image.

Taking a cue from here, we searched for 'Rukn-e-Yamani' on YouTube and found a video on a channel 'Hum Sab', which carried the viral photo.

Rukn-e-Yamani, translates to 'The Yemeni Corner' and is situated in the south-west corner of the Kaaba, and gets its name as thus because it faces Yemen.

We also found a news report by an English daily Saudi Gazette on the routine maintenance work at the Kaaba, which carried the viral image.

Clearly, a photo of the holy Rukn-e-Yamani in Mecca has been passed off on the internet with the false claim that it is a Shivling.

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