Old video falsely shared as man pouring milk on the Kaaba in Mecca, calling it Shivling

A 51-second long video clip where a young man with a bottle of liquid standing close to the Kaaba throws the liquid at the structure and mutters something which is followed by a commotion is viral on social media. It is being claimed that an Iranian youth offered milk on the “Mecca” and said that his ancestors were “Hindu” and this is a “Shivling”.

Twitter user @Chitransh57 shared the clip with a caption in Hindi that reads the same.

*ईरान के युवक ने “मक्का” पर दूध चढ़ाया और बोला हमारे पूर्वज “हिन्दु” थे और ये “शिवलिंग” है….. जय भोलेनाथ जी…..🔱🚩* pic.twitter.com/bIj4249oA1

— 100rabh SRIVASTAV🚩 🙏 ( एक सनातनी)🚩🙏 (@Chitransh57) August 23, 2022

The video has also been shared with the accompanying claim by several Twitter users.

ईरान के युवक ने “मक्का” पर दूध चढ़ाया और बोला हमारे पूर्वज “हिन्दु” थे और ये “शिवलिंग” है…..
🔱जय भोलेनाथ जी 🔱हर हर महादेव🔱🚩@YogiDevnath2 @beingarun28 @AnujBajpai_ @team_hyv pic.twitter.com/VC5xWUOG0x

— सनी जीतू कुशवाहा🇮🇳 (@RoyalKushwahaS) August 24, 2022

ईरान के युवक ने “मक्का” पर दूध चढ़ाया और बोला हमारे पूर्वज “हिन्दु” थे और ये “शिवलिंग” है…. जय भोलेनाथ जी….🔱🚩 pic.twitter.com/T5xOxD2RDC

— 𝒀𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅-𝑩𝒂𝑩𝒂 🕉🇮🇳 (@YOGIfiedBABA) August 23, 2022

Viral since 2019

The viral clip has been circulating on social media since 2019. It has been widely shared on Facebook.

Fact-check

We performed a Google search using relevant keywords and found an article by Gulf News published in February 2017, pertaining to this very incident. This was verified by comparing the viral video with the video of the incident posted in the article, which has been taken from a different angle. According to Gulf News, the man was attempting to die by suicide by dousing himself in fuel before he was successfully apprehended.

The incident was also reported by Arab News which stated, “Saudi security forces successfully prevented a man from setting himself alight beside the Kaaba inside Makkah’s Grand Mosque late on Monday. The man, who police said shows signs of mental illness, tried to set himself alight with gasoline but was arrested before he could do so.”

Moreover, Alt News found that several social media users had posted videos related to this incident on YouTube in 2017.

To sum it up, a video of a man trying to self-immolate is falsely viral since 2019 as a clip of Iranian youth pouring milk at the Kaaba and calling the structure a shivling.