Old, Unrelated Photograph Viral as Muslim Families Converting to Hinduism

The 2016 photograph showed a protest held at Delhi's Jama Masjid following the Uri attacks.

Fact-Check |A 2016 photograph showing a protest against terrorist activities in India has gone viral with a false claim.

(Photo: The Quint)

A photograph showing a group of Muslim men standing around a person in saffron clothes has gone viral with a claim that 34 Muslim families converted to Hinduism following the footsteps of former UP Shia Waqf Board chairman Syed Waseem Rizvi.

On 6 December, Rizvi converted to Hinduism and informed people that he would be known as Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi.

However, we found that the photograph, which dates back to 2016, was from a protest held at Mathura's Shahi Jama Masjid to condemn terrorism after the attacks on Indian troops in Uri.

CLAIM

The viral photograph was shared with a caption that said, "वसीम रिजवी जी के सनातन धर्म में घर वापसी के बाद मुस्लिमों का डर खुल रहा है,और वो स्वेच्छा से घर वापसी कर रहे है। यूपी में 34 मुस्लिम परिवारों ने कि सनातन हिन्दू धर्म में वापसी".

[Translation: After Waseem Rizvi's converted into Hinduism, Muslims are no longer scared and are converting into Hinduism voluntarily. 34 families in UP converted into Sanatan Hindu religion.]

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

The photo was widely shared on Facebook and Twitter, archives of some of which can be found here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We conducted a reverse image search on the viral photograph on Google and found the image published in an article in Amar Ujala.

A 2016 article carrying the viral photograph.

(Source: Amar Ujala/Altered by The Quint)

According to the news report, people from the Muslim community gathered at the Shahi Jama Masjid in Mathura to condemn Pakistan and protest against terrorism following the attack on army personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri.

On 18 September 2016, 19 soldiers of the Indian army were killed in an attack by terrorists in Uri.

The report further added that Imam Mohammad Umar Qadri and Mahamandaleshwar Naval Giri joined the protests to show that people from both the religion were united against terrorism. A video available on Amar Ujala's website showed a short clip of the protest where people can be seen dennouncing terrorism.

Rizvi, the former head of the Shia Waqf Board, converted to Hinduism on 6 December.

Evidently, an old image was shared to claim that 34 Muslim families in UP converted to Hinduism after Rizvi became a Hindu.

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