Video of Sufi ritual falsely viral as mass sneezing in Nizamuddin to spread COVID-19 infection
THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN altnews.in
A video is massively viral on social media with the claim that people mass sneezed in Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin mosque to spread coronavirus infection. A Facebook user Anita Saxena posted a video which was later deleted, it had drawn 24,000 views and 1,700 shares before being deleted.
The same clip has also been shared on Twitter.
#NizamuddinIdiots they are not idiots like Kanika Kapoor they have hidden agenda What are they practicing here pic.twitter.com/8dPOswu1JS
— nithin (@nithin42349592) April 1, 2020
Unrelated video of a ritual in Sufism
Alt News found that the video was earlier circulating in the Pakistani social media ecosystem with the coronavirus claim. This tweet is from January 30. A YouTube channel from Pakistan uploaded it a day earlier on January 29. It’s likely that the video is older because Alt News was unable to trace the original. The first case of coronavirus in India was reported on January 30.
A further reverse-image search of keyframes of the video led us to a March 4 tweet in Urdu. The English translation of the text revealed the words “Sufi madness”.
الحمدلله الذي هدانا للإسلام ولمنهج السلف الصالح ،،
— مساعد المدلج (@MuALmedlij) March 3, 2020
جنون الصوفية كيف يفعل بأتباعه !!
هل يذكرون الله كما يزعمون أم يتبادلون مرض الكورونا بعطاسهم الجماعي ؟!!?#كورنا #الإسلام_السياسي pic.twitter.com/T107GDn4No
During our research, we made certain observations about the clip:
- It is unlikely that people can voluntarily sneeze together so rapidly in coordination.
- It looks like they are loudly inhaling and exhaling air.
Based on this and the above tweet, we performed a Google search with the keywords ‘Sufi breathing’ which led us to several videos mentioning the word ‘Zikr’.
The website of Sufi organisation Ansari Qadiri Rifai Tariqa defines ‘zikr’ as a practice where devotees remember God in unison. It can be performed in several ways including “a traditional order in which Allah’s Names are mentioned in zikr, and each one is repeated several, often hundreds of times in unison by the group. Certain movements, such as swaying back and forth or turning from right to left, are incorporated into the activity during the intonations, and are likewise performed in unison. In some tariqas a prayerful rotation of the whole body, arms extended while pivoting on one foot, is traditional.”
Below is a video where people can be seen bending back and forth in a similar manner as in the viral video while chanting ‘Allah’.
Similarly, in the video viral on social media, people are repeatedly taking Allah’s name. Readers are advised to wear earphones and listen to the audio in loops, especially post the first 40 seconds.
Speaking with Alt News, Dr Hamid Akbar, a professor of Urdu at KBN University in Karnataka’s Gulbarga said, “In the main four silsila (orders) of Sufism such zikr is performed but it’s more sophisticated than this [viral video]. The sound you hear, is saas ka zikr or zikr e-anfas which basically means taking Allah’s name with your breath. If you listen closely, you can hear that they are chanting ‘Allahu’ [in the video].”
Mosque in the viral video is neither Nizamuddin mosque nor the Nizamuddin Dargah
Dr Akbar added that he has never seen any ritual, as witnessed in the viral video, practised in Tablighi Jamaat congregations which focus mainly on the importance of namaz (Islamic prayers) and roja (fasting). The Tablighi Jamaat meet is organised in Nizamuddin mosque which is also known as Tablighi Markaz or Bangle Wali Masjid.
Qawwalis (Sufi devotional music) are sung in the courtyard of Nizamuddin Dargah which is about half a kilometre away from the mosque. However, the Dargah had earlier distanced itself from Tablighi Jamaat when Aaj Tak had falsely claimed that 33 people sent for quarantine attended a program at the Dargah. “It is clarified that the News is about Nizamuddin Tablighi Markaz and not of Dargah,” read the tweet.
A wrong new is being circulated on AajTak that 33 corona suspects sent for quarantine who attended a programme at Dargah Hazrat Nizamuddin. It is clarified that the News is about Nizamuddin Tablighi Markaz and not of Dargah. Complaint has been made at ‘Aajtak’ in this regard.
— Dargah Hazrat Nizamuddin (@SufiCulturalOrg) March 30, 2020
Below is a picture of the dargah where qawwali singers can be spotted sitting in the courtyard.
Therefore, a video of people practising a ritual in Sufism was falsely shared as intentional sneezing inside Delhi’s Nizamuddin mosque to spread the coronavirus infection. Earlier, a video of Bohra Muslims practising the ritual of licking utensils to not waste leftover food was also shared with the same claim.
Nizamuddin has been identified as a coronavirus hotspot after several preachers of Tablighi Jamaat tested positive in three different locations across the country. The organisation led a congregation at its headquarters (Markaz) Banglewali Masjid in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area in mid-March, for which the Delhi government has now filed an FIR against a mosque preacher. Tablighi Jamaat maintains that its gathering was not illegal because it was held before Prime Minister Modi announced the first lockdown (Janata curfew) on March 22. However, the Delhi government claims that its order banning large gatherings, issued on March 13, was violated. Ironically, this was the same day when the Union Health Ministry declared that COVID-19 was not a health emergency. The March 13 order, however, did not extend to religious gatherings and only a subsequent order passed on March 16 did. If reports are to be believed, the congregation was held between March 8 to 15.
Note: The number of positive cases of the novel coronavirus in India is over 1,700 and more than 50 deaths have so far been reported. The government has imposed a complete restriction on movement apart from essential services to tackle the pandemic. Globally, more than 8 lakh confirmed cases and over to 44,000 deaths have been reported. There is a growing sense of panic among citizens, causing them to fall for a variety of online misinformation – misleading images and videos rousing fear or medical misinformation promoting pseudoscience and invalid treatments. While your intentions may be pure, misinformation, spread especially during a pandemic, can take lives. We request our readers to practice caution and not forward unverified messages on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN altnews.in
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Hamas accepts cease-fire proposal for Gaza, but Israel's stance still uncertain
Jerusalem, May 6: Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but there was no immediate word from Israel, leaving it uncertain whether a deal had been sealed to bring a halt to the seven-month-long war in Gaza.
It was the first glimmer of hope that a deal might avert further bloodshed. Hours earlier, Israel ordered some 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating the southern Gaza town of Rafah, signalling that an attack was imminent. The United States and other key allies of Israel oppose an offensive on Rafah, where around 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza's population, are sheltering.
An official familiar with Israeli thinking said Israeli officials were examining the proposal, but the plan approved by Hamas was not the framework Israel proposed.
An American official also said the US was still waiting to learn more about the Hamas position and whether it reflected an agreement to what had already been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or something else. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as a stance was still being formulated.
Details of the proposal have not been released. Touring the region last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pressed Hamas to take the deal, and Egyptian officials said it called for a cease-fire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and some Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal, they said.
