{"id":548,"date":"2020-02-13T09:45:58","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T09:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/?p=548"},"modified":"2022-02-21T10:07:38","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T10:07:38","slug":"snowfall-at-the-shrine-of-imam-reza-in-mashad-iran-misinterpreted-as-al-masjid-al-haram-in-mecca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/snowfall-at-the-shrine-of-imam-reza-in-mashad-iran-misinterpreted-as-al-masjid-al-haram-in-mecca\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Video of snowfall in Iran\u2019s mosque shared as Al Masjid Al-Haram in Mecca."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Mecca is Islam\u2019s holiest city and is believed to be the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad. Millions of Muslims throng to the holy city every year for Hajj, the annual pilgrimage. Dating from the 7th century, the central Masjid al-Haram (Sacred Mosque) surrounds the Kaaba, the cloth-covered cubic structure that\u2019s Islam\u2019s most sacred shrine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 13th<\/sup> January 2020, a person named Ayub Aroos posted a video on his Facebook profile with the caption “First time in history makkah masjidul haram snowing yesterday”, indicating that for the first time in recorded history, the sacred mosque of Al Masjid al-Haram<\/a> in Mecca had a snowfall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Link<\/a><\/td>Archived Link<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

The video, shared over 1000 times had mixed reactions with most of the comments mentioning this video was not from a mosque in Mecca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snowing is usual in Saudi Arabia. This January, around the same time the above post was published, the country had experienced a powerful storm bringing sub-zero temperatures, transforming parts of the Saudi Arabian desert into a winter wonderland. As a result, few of the respondents had actually believed that these were indeed scenes of snow, at the sacred mosque of Al Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. We verified whether the claim made in the post is true or not and found out the mosque seen in the video is not in Saudi but Iran. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fact Check<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We did a Google Reverse Image Search<\/a> on some of the video frames from the viral video and noticed a large number of entries, during the past month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Number of search results were in Arabic language and with the help of Google Translator we inspected the report published by albidda.net and a screengrab of the translation to English is as below<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA video clip has been shared across social media, claiming that snow fell on the Noble Sanctuary in Medina. By searching for the truth of the passage, it turned out to be incorrect, and the real video came from the Iranian city of Mashhad more than three years ago which records a snowfall in each winter. In this context, the Anti-Rumor Commission clarified in a statement that what is being discussed about the snowfall on the Prophet\u2019s Mosque in Medina is incorrect and the real video from the Iranian city of Mashhad more than three years ago\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Link<\/a><\/td>Archived Link<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

To ascertain this statement, we did a Youtube search for \u201csnowfall in Mashad<\/a>\u201d and noticed large number of content with similar background to the claimed video. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon further examination of the content from Mashad in Iran, we were able to locate the location exactly as Imam Reza shrine. Below are some of the images of the sacred Imam Reza shrine in Mashad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tripadvisor Link<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Furthermore, after doing a Facebook search for \u201cReza shrine in Mashad<\/a>\u201d we were came across the same video posted by a person called Mohammed Abdul Nayeem<\/a> with the caption \u201cSnowfall at Shrine of Imam Reza(as). Mashhad,Iran\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n