Fan Played BTS Song on Mosque Loudspeakers? No, Post is Satirical

The 'article' was published by satirical Instagram page 'Realinshots' but was taken seriously by social media users.

A photo with a 'news' story with the headline 'Muslim BTS fan accidentally plays the song 'Dynamite' instead of Azaan on loudspeakers at 4 am; gets arrested' is being shared on social media. The story states that 21-year-old Aqib Ali accidentally connected his mobile phone to the Shahi Atala Masjid's speakers and was later fined for the same.

We found that the photo actually came from a satirical Instagram page called Realinshots, a play on the name of the news aggregator InShorts. The page's description clearly states that none of the news posted on their page is real.

CLAIM

The story claims that a 21-year-old boy named Aqib Ali was arrested after he accidentally played Korean band BTS' music on his mosque's loudspeaker in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh.

The article quotes Ali hoping for Allah's forgiveness and mentions that he was set free after a fine of Rs 3,000.

The post was shared widely on Facebook and can be seen here, here, here and here. The Quint received the query on its WhatsApp tipline as well.

WHAT WE FOUND

We looked up the incident using 'Muslim BTS Fan Jaunpur' as keywords. While there were no news reports regarding the incident, we found multiple claims on Facebook that included a grey logo on the top-right corner of the photo. The logo reads 'REAL inshots'.

We looked up the name on the logo and found an Instagram account named 'Real Inshots', whose page description called it India's "foremost fictitious news source" and said that none of their content was real.

There, we found the post, which was published on to the page on 28 June 2021.

Since then the account has clarified that the incident is not real. They have put up two Instagram stories stating the same that they bear "no responsibility" if somebody interprets their posts in any other way. The account has also apologised for hurting religious sentiments and making assumptions regarding the morning call to prayer, or Azaan, in mosques.

We also looked up the Shahi Atala Mosque in Jaunpur and found that it does not resemble the one seen in the claim.

Clearly, the incident discussed in this 'news' article is not real. It was created and shared by a satirical Instagram page, which is very open about its content being fictitious.

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