Claim: A video shows a church in Spain, formerly called the Great Mosque of Córdoba, where a muezzin in old Andalusian clothes comes in to recite the azaan, the Muslim call to prayer, while the Christian worshippers remain silent until it ends.
Fact: The video, in fact, depicts an azaan recitation that took place in 2014 in the presence of the Windsor and Eton Choral Society in Eton College’s School Hall in the UK. It has nothing to do with Spain or the Great Mosque of Córdoba.
On 3 January 2024, Facebook user ‘Umar Faraz’ posted (archive) a video showing a man reciting the azaan, or the Muslim call to prayer, among an audience of people holding musical instruments. The clip is captioned as follows:
“اسپین کے اس چرچ کو قرطبہ مسجد کہا جاتا ہے۔ یہ وہ مسجد تھی جسے ایک عیسائی بادشاہ نے چرچ میں تبدیل کیا تھا لیکن مؤذن روزانہ اذان دینے کے لیے آتا ہے، حالانکہ اسے چرچ میں تبدیل کر دیا گیا تھا، آج تک مسلمان مؤذن اندلس کے پرانے کپڑوں میں آتے ہیں اور اذان دیتے ہیں۔ ہر روز نماز کی اذان۔ یہاں تک کہ جب عیسائی اپنی عبادت کر رہے ہوتے ہیں، عیسائی حاضرین اذان کے اختتام تک خاموش رہتے ہیں۔ ایک دلکش منظر
[This church in Spain is called Qartaba Mosque. It was a mosque that was converted into a church by a Christian king but [a] muezzin comes in daily to recite the azaan, even though it was converted into a church, till today, Muslim muezzins wearing old Andalusian clothes come in and recite the azaan. An azaan for prayers everyday. So much so that even when Christians are worshipping, the Christian attendees remain silent until the end of the azaan. A beautiful sight.]”
A muezzin is a person who recites the call to prayer in a mosque.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the viral video and came across the YouTube channel Hassen Rasool. Scrolling through the clips posted on it, we were able to match the visuals with a video originally posted on 6 December 2014.
The accompanying caption states, “The Call to Prayer was performed by Hassen Rasool who was delighted to be asked to perform the Adhan amongst the Windsor and Eton Choral Society in the Eton School Hall on the 27th September 2014.” It was performed between The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins and Haydn’s Mass in Time of War, which marked the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One.
Screenshot from viral video (left) and screenshot from the original video from 2014 (right)
We also matched some key elements in the viral video with those seen in a picture of Eton College’s School Hall on the Windsor Festival’s website (archive).
The portion of the claim stating that the muezzin wore old Andalusian clothes is also wrong because Hassen Rasool can be seen wearing a white gown and a turban while carrying a staff; these do not match the traditional Andalusian attire.
Britannica (archive) states that the Great Mosque of Córdoba, also known as the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, “was converted into a Christian cathedral in the 13th century”.
“Since 1236 the former mosque has served as a Christian cathedral,” it notes. There is no information that states that the Cathedral partly functions as a mosque even now.
Therefore, Soch Fact Check rates the claim as false. In the meantime, we have also reached out to Spanish fact-checkers to verify if one or more muezzins still come in to recite the call to prayers in the Great Mosque of Córdoba. This fact-check will be updated upon receiving their response.
Virality
The post by ‘Umar Faraz’ has been viewed over 276,000 times and shared more than 6,400 times, as of the time of writing.
Soch Fact Check found the most viral posts on Facebook here, here, here, and here.
On X (formerly Twitter), @SajidFb also posted the video with the false caption that has garnered over 57,500 views as of the time of writing. The user has also shared misleading content in the past investigated by Soch Fact Check.
The clip was also shared on YouTube here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The video under question depicts an azaan recitation that took place in 2014 in the presence of the Windsor and Eton Choral Society in Eton College’s School Hall in Windsor, England. It has nothing to do with Spain or the Great Mosque of Córdoba.
Background image in cover photo: Sahbi
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com
[…] is a post by @SajidFb, who gained over 93,900 views as of writing time and has peddled multiple dubious claims that Soch Fact Check has debunked in the […]