Old video surfaces with false claim it shows 'Muslims praying during LA fires'
- Published on January 24, 2025 at 08:52
- 3 min read
- By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India
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"American Muslims give the call to prayer. When technologies failed to control the wildfires in California, Muslims living there prayed to their 'Allah' to control the fire," read the Hindi caption of the video shared on Facebook on January 12, 2025.
The 36-second clip shows a group of men in Muslim attire and high-visibility jackets praying, with thick plumes of smoke and a fire tender behind them.
Wildfires have ravaged 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) in the Los Angeles area after it erupted on January 7 and killed at least 27 people (archived link).
AFP has debunked unfounded conspiracies around the inferno that have swirled online, including claims it was caused by directed energy weapons or that authorities purposefully set the blazes to encourage the development of so-called "smart cities".
The footage circulated with similar claims elsewhere on Facebook and X.
Comments from users suggest they believed the claim was genuine.
One user wrote: "Allah is the saviour".
"America is suffering its sin, we pray to Allah only", another comment read.
But the clip was in fact filmed several years ago in Pakistan.
2022 video from Pakistan
A reverse image search on Google using the video's keyframes found the same clip shared on X on June 3, 2022 (archived link).
The clip's caption said a fire broke out at a supermarket in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi.
"An experiment was carried out to extinguish fire by group Azan," it said sarcastically, referring to the Islamic call to prayer. "It didn't work."
Further keyword search found a video report on the verified YouTube channel of Pakistani media outlet Samaa TV on June 1, 2022 (archived link).
The video's headline read: "Breaking: Karachi Departmental Store Fire Update - SAMAA TV - 01 June 2022".
The report said a fire broke out in the basement of a multi-storey building that housed a departmental store near Karachi's Jail Chowrangi flyover.
The building in the false video also matches the one seen in the Samaa TV video.
The Times of India also used the video in its report on the fire (archived link).
The blaze killed one person and injured three others, according to Pakistani media (archived link).
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