Video of Ottoman sultan's costume falsely shared as war attire of the Prophet Mohammed

This article is more than one year old.
Published on December 11, 2023 at 11:03
3 min read
By AFP Bangladesh

A video of an armour on display has been shared multiple times on social media posts alongside a false claim it shows the battle gear of the Prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam. Turkey's Directorate of National Palaces told AFP, however that the bejewelled armour in the video belongs to Sultan Mustafa III and is part of an exhibit at the Imperial Treasury of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.

"Masha Allah (God wish), how beautiful is the combatant suit of our beloved Prophet," reads the Bengali text overlaid in this video shared on Facebook on November 12.

The video, viewed more than 1,900 times, shows a full-body armour studded with jewels.

"It could have been viral if it were a video of dancing," reads part of the text, egging the users to actively share the content.

Screenshot of the false Facebook post taken on November 21, 2023

The video has been shared with similar claims on Facebook here, here and here.

Mohammed is the founder of Islam. According to historical records, he was born in 570 AD in the holy city of Mecca, part of modern-day Saudi Arabia (archived link).

Various relics and items that purportedly belonged to the Prophet Mohammed are kept at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey (archived link).

But the claim is false. The armour in the video belonged to Sultan Mustafa III, a ruler of the Ottoman Empire between 1757–74 and is exhibited at the Topkapi Palace Arms and Armory collection in Istanbul, Turkey.

Armour of Sultan Mustafa III

A reverse image search on Google found a longer version of the video uploaded on May 10, 2020 on YouTube titled, "Topkapi Palace Museum Ottoman Arms and Armour Collection, Turkey Istanbul (archived link)".

Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip shared in the false post (left) and the video uploaded on YouTube (right):

Screenshot comparison of the clip shared in the false post (left) and the video uploaded on YouTube (right)

The description in the background of the armour on display reads: "1-Suit of Ceremonial Armour of Mustafa III; Ottoman, second half of 18th century".

Screenshot of the YouTube video with description of the displayed armour highlighted by AFP

Further keyword search found a similar photo on the website of stock photo agency Alamy captioned: "Armour of Sultan Mustafa III consisting of an iron coat of mail decorated with gold and encrusted with jewels (18th century) exhibited in the Imperial Treasury of Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, Turkey" (archived link).

Turkey's Directorate of National Palaces, an institution responsible for the administration and maintenance of historical palaces in the country, confirmed to AFP that the armour seen in the video belongs to the collection of the Topkapi Palace museum (archived link).

"The image you have attached is "Ceremonial Costume of Sultan Mustafa III in the Topkapi Palace Arms And Armory collection," says their reply on December 1 .

The Topkapi Palace was constructed during the years 1460 and 1478 by Sultan Mehmed in Istanbul. In April 1924, the palace was made into a museum (archived link).

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