Misleading: Thousands of Muslims Pray at U.S. Capitol

Deja Tyla Hansen

Spirituality & Religion

30th January 2021

Misleading: Thousands of Muslims Pray at U.S. Capitol

The image is from 2009 (Getty Images).

The Claim

Under the Biden administration, thousands of Muslims prayed outside of the U.S. Capitol.

News posted on

Shaikh Mohd Asad

R Bhaduri

Remigration

Emerging story

On January 22, 2021, a Twitter user posted on Facebook with information about President Biden’s current term. The Hindi message translated to “Joe Biden's new America in front of Capitol Hill on Friday.” This post was followed by an image that showed many individuals believed to be Muslim praying in front of Capitol Hill.

Many Twitter users quickly questioned the facts behind this post while others merely continued to share the story with friends.

Misbar’s Analysis

Misbar’s investigation found that this image is miscaptioned. It first appeared in another report from 2009 and was referenced again in a 2015 article. This original article was titled “Islam on Capitol Hill.” The image from the article captures a moment in time from 2009 where several Muslim men participated in a Namaz held outside of the U.S. Capitol. This 2009 event was organized in New Jersey and held as a way to inspire Muslims around the world.

As a result of Biden’s recent executive order which overturned a previous decision by Trump to block travel to many majority Muslim regions, this image went viral again with the claim that it occurred just recently. Prior to this order, Biden said, “I'm going to start by keeping the promises I made to the American people.”

While thousands of Muslims did pray outside of the U.S. Capitol, it’s important to note this event happened many years ago. As such, it has nothing to do with our current President, Joe Biden – making this claim misleading in nature.