News outlets including CNN, ABC and Fox News have reported on how mosques across Texas have opened their doors to victims of Hurricane Harvey, but that didn’t stop some fake news websites from publishing alternative renditions of the facts.
A widely circulated story, published on several fake and satirical news sites, claims that the “Ramashan Mosque outside Houston” is refusing to come to the aid of non-Muslims. The story quotes the mosque’s imam insisting that the Qur’an forbids Muslims from helping infidels.
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Trouble is, the Ramashan Mosque doesn’t exist, and the photo accompanying some of the versions of the story is of Ibrahim Hindy, imam of the Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre in Mississauga, Ont.
On Saturday, Hindy took to social media to state that he has never been to Texas, and is currently in Saudi Arabia performing the Hajj pilgrimage.
“My friends and I have been praying for the Hurricane Harvey victims our entire time here,” Hindy said on Facebook.
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“I pray that Allah brings aid and comfort to all the victims, whether Muslim or not.”
Some iterations of the story used a photo of Hindy from a Global News interview published in April 2017.
In that interview, which can be viewed below, Hindy discussed receiving death threats over his support for the Peel District School Board’s decision to offer a prayer space for Muslim students.
WATCH: Mississauga imam threatened with death, burning of mosque
Global News is aware of the unlicensed use of its images, and is working to have the image taken down from the fake news sites.
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