No, Delhi's Jama Masjid is not going to issue fatwa against Tanishq - Alt News
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19th October 2020 / 2:04 pm / Last updated: 19th October 2020
Several Twitter and Facebook users have claimed that Ahmed Bukhari, Shahi Imam at New Delhi’s Jama Masjid, will issue a fatwa against Tanishq for “destroying Islamic culture” because there is no baby shower ritual in Islam. This claim has been shared with a picture of Bukhari and a still from the ad.
Facebook user Rahul Sharma posted the claim on October 16. It has been shared about 600 times. (archived link)
#Jama_Masjid will issue #fatwa against #Tanishq, because they had shown “Baby shower” tradition in advertisement which…
Posted by Rahul Sharma on Friday, 16 October 2020
Some Twitter users who believed Sharma’s post to be authentic shared its screenshot. The handle @theanuragkts posted the screenshot and wrote, “Jama Masjid is going to issue a fatwa against Tanishq Jewellery, how pathetic these close-minded Bigots are? I can’t breathe now.” The tweet was later taken down but an archived link can be accessed here.
Similarly, @RajiIndustani wrote, “Hahaha – where are secular liber****00s” followed by the viral text. (archived link)
Jewellery brand Tanishq released an ad on October 9 that showed a baby shower ritual in an inter-faith marriage. The ad sparked massive outrage among Hindutva groups who accused Tanishq of promoting ‘love jihad’, a right-wing conspiracy theory that most marriages between Muslim men and Hindu woman are a tactic to convert Hindu women to Islam. Despite Tanishq removing the ad, its stores in Gujarat and Indore were threatened by goons.
Alt News couldn’t find news reports stating Jama Masjid will issue a fatwa against Tanishq. It is improbable that a controversial update on an issue that has garnered media and public attention the past few weeks will go unnoticed.
Alt News spoke with Syed Shaban Bukhari, Vice Shahi Imam at Jama Masjid, New Delhi. “No such fatwa has been issued by Jama Masjid, New Delhi,” he said.
Prior to the circulation of false claims, Bukhari had shared his thoughts on the advertisement. “I find this ad extremely beautiful. The division is in the minds of few extremists. We as #Muslim’s have “REALLY” good #Hindu friends and we all love each other and when you talk about safety, yes #Hindu’s are super safe in our houses. Tanishq well done for spreading love,” he wrote on a Facebook post.
I find this ad extremely beautiful.
The division is in the minds of few extremists. We as #Muslim’s have “REALLY” good #Hindu friends and we all love each other and when you talk about safety, yes #Hindu’s are super safe in our houses.
Tanishq well done for spreading love.
Posted by Syed Shaban Bukhari on Wednesday, 14 October 2020
The claim that Delhi’s Jama Masjid will issue a fatwa against Tanishq for airing the controversial ad is yet another piece of misinformation on the topic. Jama Masjid was also targetted earlier in July when Republic TV claimed that the mosque had not been paying electricity bills. False news about fatwa also keeps cropping up every now and then.
🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023.
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