No, These Designs Were Not Carved by ‘Gulfam’ From UP’s Saharanpur

The images show carvings of the holy city of Mecca designed by artists from Mahajati – a Singapore based company.

Several users on social media shared images of woodwork by an artisan, with a claim that they were carved by an artist named Gulfam from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. However, we found that the aforementioned images show carvings of the holy city of Mecca, designed by artists from Mahajati – a Singapore based company.

CLAIM

The claim with which the above-mentioned set of images is being circulated reads: “ The famous artisan #Gulfam Bhai of #Saharanpur has proved by making it that district #Saharanpur is no less than anyone in the world. What a beautiful design of #Masjid_e_Haram made with Mashaallah wood.” (sic)

The images are being shared on Twitter and Facebook with the same misleading claim.

WHAT WE FOUND

A Google reverse image search directed us to a Facebook post by a page called Riyadh Xpress. The caption shared along with the post read: “Mahajati masterpiece Carving of the Holy City of Makkah which takes months to years to produce and requires the collaboration of various artists across multiple trades.”

Another post on Facebook shared by a page called Saudi Buzz carrying the same images suggested that the artwork was created by artisans from a company called Mahajati.

The post directed us to the website and the Instagram page of this company, where we found similar images.

We tried to access the website and social media pages of the company and found that they were restricted by the owner. Hence, we went through a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to look at the website where we found the Instagram handle, which we then archived.

Mahajati is a Singapore based Art company founded by Mohammad Mohdar Anwar. Clearly, images of their artwork are being shared as that by an artist based out of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

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