Video of Man Praying in Middle of Road Is From Istanbul, Not London
The Claim
A video depicts a Muslim man praying on a busy street in London.
News posted on
Emerging story
A video of a man praying on the street full of cars went viral on social media platforms. Users alleged the video was filmed in London.
Misbar’s Analysis
We found that the circulating video was filmed in Istanbul, Turkey, and published on September 19, 2021.
According to En Son Haber, the video depicts a man on the Istanbul E-5 highway praying, ignoring the passage of vehicles.
We wanted to make sure of the location of the incident, so we used a satellite image service, like Google maps and Google street view. We managed to find this place on the E-5 highway and the blue building on the other side of the road, which is called Medical Park.
Meanwhile, T24 has provided a transcript of what people say during the video. The Turkish newspaper revealed that some citizens told the man praying he was facing the wrong Qibla. Qibla means a specific direction to the Muslims around the globe supposed to pose when they pray. And it is defined to be toward the Great Mosque of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
The circulation of the video, accompanied by a commentary in Hindi, is used as part of spreading disinformation amid mounting tension between Muslims and Hindus in India.
