Footage of Muslim pilgrims in Iraq misrepresented after NYC mayoral primary

Published on June 26, 2025 at 17:38
6 min read
By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA

A video spreading on X claims to show a massive crowd dancing to Arabic music in the streets of New York City after self-declared socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani, who is Muslim, won the US financial capital's 2025 Democratic mayoral primary. But the footage is misrepresented; reverse image searches and AFP's geolocation of the clip prove that in reality, it shows Shiite Muslims taking part in the Arbaeen pilgrimage in Karbala, Iraq in August 2024.

"Absolutely INSANE footage coming out of NYC right now. WOW!!!" says a June 25, 2025 post on X.

The video shows two men performing in Arabic and blaring high tempo electronic music as a throng of people excitedly jump up and down around them.

Screenshot from X taken June 25, 2025

The post quickly racked up thousands of interactions after Mamdani -- who is 33 and vying to become New York City's first Muslim mayor -- pulled off a stunning victory in the city's June 24 Democratic mayoral primary, upsetting scandal-scarred rival and former New York governor Andrew Cuomo.

Mamdani leaned into his Muslim identity on the campaign trail, courting the one million New York members of his faith with frequent visits to the city's mosques and community centers.

The video shared online, however, does not show New Yorkers celebrating -- and the X user who shared the post later suggested that they had done so in jest.

Video from 2024 religious gathering

Reverse image searches surfaced the same footage in an Arabic-language YouTube video dated August 26, 2024 (archived here).

Screenshot from YouTube taken June 25, 2025

A hashtag attached to the video links it to Arbaeen, an annual pilgrimage in Iraq that represents one of the world's largest religious gatherings and marks the 40th day of mourning for the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and a founding figure in Shiite Islam. More than 21 million took part in the August 2024 celebrations.

The video's description says the clip shows the entrance to the shrine in Karbala, Iraq, where Hussein is buried and another nearby mausoleum dedicated to Hussein's brother Abbas.

The description also mentions Mujtaba Al Kaabi, a musician.

Another Instagram post tagging Al Kaabi appears to show the same moment from a different angle (archived here). The post was shared August 30.

AFP reached out to Al Kaabi for comment, but no response was forthcoming.

Geolocating the footage

To geolocate the footage, AFP first identified Arabic signs for a jewelry story and an ophthalmologist among the storefronts lining the street.

Using Google Earth satellite imagery to search the area surrounding the two holy shrines for those businesses and other uniquely identifiable buildings, AFP matched the video to a section of Karbala's Al Jumhurya Street near the Al-Kawthar mall (archived here).