A video showing a huge crowd shouting slogans is being shared on social media with a claim that people from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Bahrain, and Afghanistan came together in support of Prophet Muhammad in light of the recent controversy surrounding former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
This comes after 15 nations, as well as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), came out and condemned the comments made by Sharma about Prophet Muhammad on a television debate.
Following the backlash, the party suspended Sharma on 5 June.
However, this video dates back to January 2021 when people had gathered at Lahore, Pakistan, for former Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi’s Chehlum, which is a religious gathering held 40 days after a person dies.
CLAIM
The claim along with the video states that people from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Bahrain, and Afghanistan, gathered today in the name of Prophet Muhammad.
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(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
Upon dividing the video into multiple keyframes and running it on Google reverse image search, we came across a YouTube video uploaded on 4 January 2021.
The video was titled 'Allama Khadim Hussain Rizvi Chehlum | TLP Chehlum 2021'.
Taking a cue from the title, we ran a keyword search on Google using 'Khadim Rizvi’s Chehlum 2021' and found an article by a Pakistani news website Baaghi TV published on 3 January 2021.
The article mentioned that religious observance took place on completing 40 days of Khadim Hussain Rizvi's death. Thousands of Rizvi's followers had gathered for Chehlum at Lahore, Pakistan.
A stock image website Getty Images, also carried images from the 2021 event.
The image description read, "Activists of hardline religious political party Tehreek-e-Labbaik, pray for the late party founder Khadim Hussain Rizvi, during his Chehlum which is the fortieth day of mourning after Ashura, in Lahore on January 3, 2021."
The image was taken on 3 January 2021 in Lahore, Pakistan.
(Source: Getty Images/ Altered by The Quint)
NUPUR SHARMA'S CONTROVERSIAL STATEMENTS
A video clip of Nupur Sharma, mocking Islam and Prophet Muhammad on a television debate went viral on social media.
She was charged under sections 295A (acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 505B of the Indian Penal Code (inducing to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquillity) after a complaint was filed by Raza Academy, an organisation representing the Indian Sunni Muslims on 29 May.
Sharma, initially said that the clip was “selectively-edited” and was alleged that she was getting “continuous death and beheading threats” since the video was tweeted.
Amid the controversy, BJP suspended Sharma from party's membership on 5 June. After the action, Sharma unconditionally withdrew her controversial statement and claimed that her comments were a reaction to "continuous insult and disrespect towards our Mahadev (Lord Shiva)”.
Delhi media head Naveen Jindal also got expelled for tweeting derogatory remarks against the Prophet. He deleted his tweet later.
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