Following the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel on February 28, and Iran’s retaliatory missile attacks on US bases in the Middle East, a collage of multiple pictures has been circulated on social media titled ‘To survive the Iranian attack, the US police started reciting the Azan out of fear’ in the context of the ongoing Iran vs. Israel-US conflict.
See posts circulated on Facebook with the said claim here (Archive), here (Archive), and here (Archive).
Fact Check
The Rumor Scanner team’s investigation reveals that the person reciting the Azan in the discussed picture is not a member of the United States police, and it is not an incident related to the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict. In reality, a scene of Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Corporal Nader Khalil reciting the Azan in Calgary, Canada, during the month of Ramadan in 2021 has been circulated with the discussed claim.
Investigating this matter, a video was found on the verified X account of the Alberta branch of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), RCMP Alberta. The scenes in the said video bear a resemblance to the pictures circulated with the discussed claim.
From the caption of the said video, it is known that during the month of Ramadan in 2021, a Muslim member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Corporal Nader Khalil, recited the Maghrib Azan at the Akram Jomaa Mosque located in Calgary, Alberta province, Canada. The video attached to the post is a scene of the said incident.
Subsequently, the same information is known from reports broadcast in multiple international media (1, 2, 3) regarding this.
Therefore, a scene of a Muslim police member of Canada reciting the Azan in 2021 has been circulated claiming to be a scene of a US police member reciting the Azan during the recent Iran-Israel conflict; which is false.
Sources
- RCMP Alberta – X Post
- Al Arab – شاهد .. أول ضابط شرطة يرفع آذان المغرب في أحد المساجد بكندا
- TRT World – Facebook Post
Al Jadeed – بالفيديو ـ شرطي مسلم يرفع أذان المغرب بأحد المساجد في كندا