Video of a man trying to immolate himself at Mecca by throwing petrol revived with communal spin

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On 6th July 2019, a Facebook user named Anand Damdiyal shared a video.  The tile of the post was   “Iranian man pouring milk on the Kaaba in Mecca and claiming that their ancestors were Hindus. The caption along with the video also says that he claims that the Kaaba is a holy Shivalinga. Is this a true story? If yes, then chant Jai Shri Ram, like the page and express your thoughts in comments below and share it. 

This video was made viral by saying that one Iranian man poured milk on the Kaaba in Mecca and assert that his ancestors were Hindus. It was been claimed in this video that the Kaaba is a holy Shivalinga.” Kaaba is considered to be the most sacred site in Islam. The video shows a man dressed in a white, is throwing liquid on the black and golden cloth which is used to cover Kaaba. He then speaks in Arabic before a group of devotees apprehend him and take him away. This video has been viewed more than a thousand times. 

   Facebook Post      Archive Link 

In order to find the truth, we did a reality check. 

We started the investigation by searching for this video on YouTube by using keywords like man throwing milk at Kabba and found 2-year-old videos. The title of the video says “a man attempt to burn himself in front of Kabba. This video was published on 7th February 2017.  

The description says, according to the reports by Xinhua News Agency, an eyewitness said that he saw a man pouring gasoline on Kabba. He alerted the police, who arrested the man. The incident occurred at 11 p.m. on Monday. In May 2016, the police foiled a suicide bomber from reaching the Prophet’s Mosque in Madina, leaving the attacker and four police personnel killed. It is clearly mentioned in this video that this man went to pour gasoline on Kabba. It can be seen in the video that one man is being taken away by the police. The below-mentioned video of this incident is taken from a different angle. The same man is being taken away by the police.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewBqH-atxBY

Looking carefully at the video, it can be noticed that the liquid is actually petrol, not milk. Had it been milk, its color would have been white. 

This viral video was tweeted in June 2017 by Daily Times. It was mentioned in the tweet that one man was see throwing petrol at sacred site of Kabba. We got information related to this video that was published by Daily Times. The whole incident has been described in that video. 

Archive Link   Archive Link 

Thereafter, we searched for reports related to this incident. On 7th February 2017, Daily Express reported that a pilgrim said that he saw a man pouring petrol from a bottle on Kabba and chanting Takfiri language. 

“I immediately held him and called for assistance from the people around me. The security man rushed to the scene and took him away”, a pilgrim said describing the scene in the video. The man shown in the video was identified as a Saudi National. 

Daily Express        Archieve Link

According to the Gulf News report, the man they arrested next to Kabba was trying to kill himself; he was not trying to set ablaze the scared mosque of Kabba. This news has been published in Daily Pakistan as well. 

Archive link      Archive Link 

Conclusion: Investigations reveal that the aforementioned post is wrong. This is an old video that was published in February 2017 when a Saudi National threw petrol on Kabba and attempted suicide by dousing himself. This video was made viral with fake claims. The man in question is neither pouring milk over the Kaaba nor is he claiming that it is Shivling. It may be noted that the claim circulating on social media along with the video is false – the person in question is neither pouring milk over the Kaaba nor is he claiming that it is Shivling. 

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Title:Video of a man trying to immolate himself at Mecca by throwing petrol revived with communal spin

Fact Check By: Ruchika M 

Result: False