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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Religion & belief fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about religion & belief. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

3,371 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYReligion & belief

Photo of thousands of Muslims offering Namaz on a road in India

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a photo presented as showing thousands of Muslims offering Namaz on a road in India. FACTLY identifies the image as showing a gathering at Bishwa Ijtema, an annual pilgrimage held in Tongi, Bangladesh, and says the photo has no connection to India. The review concludes that the image is an old one from the 2019 event, rather than evidence of the claimed scene in India. To investigate the image’s provenance, the review reports conducting a reverse image search. It found the same photo on the Instagram account and website of Ratan Dhar, a Bangladesh-based photographer, who described it as a Muslim gathering during the 2019 Bishwa Ijtema. The review also compared a bus in the photo, bearing the letters “BRTC,” with buses belonging to the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation, and reports that this comparison identified it as a Bangladesh bus. The review adds two further matches: Alamy published the photo with a caption identifying Bishwa Ijtema in Bangladesh, and Dhaka Tribune published a similar photo in its coverage of the 2019 event. These strands support the review’s conclusion that the image was misattributed to India. The review acknowledges that Indian Muslims have offered Namaz on public roads on other occasions, but says the specific photo in the claim does not show such an occasion.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Video of Lord Krishna devotees protesting in Mathura

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a video of a large street rally said to show Krishna devotees protesting in Mathura. FACTLY’s review identifies the post’s accompanying claim as “Krishna devotees broke barricading in Mathura” and says the video was being shared as footage of Lord Krishna devotees protesting there. The review concludes that the footage instead shows anti-Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) protests in Nagaon district, Assam, in December 2019. To trace the footage, the review says a reverse image search led to a YouTube upload dated 12 December 2019, which showed the same visuals and described them as anti-CAB protests in Assam’s Nagaon. A further search found the same visuals in an Inside Northeast Facebook post from 12 December 2019. Its caption described a mass display of opposition to the CAB in Nagaon. The review also reports finding December 2019 tweets by journalists identifying similar visuals as anti-CAB protests in Nagaon. The review notes that Mathura had its own recent tensions concerning a proposed devotees’ march towards Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi, but says that march was called off after police permission was denied. It distinguishes that local situation from the video: the evidence it describes places the footage in Assam in 2019, not at a Mathura protest. The supplied reporting therefore supports the review’s conclusion that the video was miscaptioned.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Picture of 34 Muslims who converted to Hindu religion in Uttar Pradesh

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a photo shared as showing 34 Muslims who had recently converted to Hinduism in Uttar Pradesh. FACTLY reports that its reverse-image search found a similar photo in an Amar Ujala article dated 24 September 2016, which identified the people as Muslims protesting in Vrindavan—not as converts. The review says the protest was at Tablighi Jamaat Mosque and followed the Uri terrorist attack. The investigation also points to an Amar Ujala video related to that protest. FACTLY says it shows the same Muslims chanting anti-terrorist and anti-Pakistan slogans alongside a Hindu priest. That account provides a different explanation for the group’s presence with the priest than the conversion claim does. FACTLY says it found no news report about these 34 people converting. It distinguishes the photo from other conversion reports it mentions, including a separate group of 15 people from five families in Muzaffarnagar and Waseem Rizvi’s conversion in Ghaziabad. The supplied review therefore identifies the viral image as an older protest photo, not evidence that the pictured group converted.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Muslims told the court that spitting on food makes the halal process complete

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The viral claim said that Muslims told a court that spitting on food makes the halal process complete. FACTLY traced the allegation to a plea in the Kerala High Court concerning halal-certified jaggery used to prepare Nivedyam and Prasadam at Sabarimala—not to a Tamil Nadu court proceeding, as the claim suggested. The petitioner was SJR Kumar, general convener of the Sabarimala Action Committee. The review explains that the statements about saliva came from the petitioner’s accusations, not an admission by Muslims. The petition alleged that Muslim religious scholars had publicly said saliva was necessary for halal certification, and cited differing views among religious leaders. FACTLY says this attribution was misconstrued and circulated as though the Muslim community had made the statements in court. It also notes that no Muslim organisation or individual was a respondent in the case. The review reports that the Travancore Devaswom Board said the halal label on the jaggery packaging reflected the supplier’s exports to Arab countries, where halal foods were required for sale. It also quotes the court’s explanation that halal certification indicated prohibited materials were absent. On the evidence described, the review concludes that the claim wrongly turned a petitioner’s allegation into an admission by Muslims.

FACTLYReligion & belief

“ಭಾರತವು ಶ್ರೇಷ್ಠ ಹಿಂದೂ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರವಾಗಿದೆ, ಆದರೆ ಜಾತ್ಯತೀತತೆಯು ಭಾರತವನ್ನು ಮತ್ತು ಅದರ ಶ್ರೇಷ್ಠತೆಯನ್ನು ನಾಶಪಡಿಸುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಹಿಂದುತ್ವದಿಂದ ಮಾತ್ರ ಭಾರತವನ್ನು ಉಳಿಸಬಹುದು” ಎಂದು ದಲೈ ಲಾಮಾರವರು ಹೇಳಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE