Claim: Maulana Fazl ur Rahman has departed to Gaza with aid and is the first leader from a Muslim country to do so.
Fact: Maulana Fazl ur Rahman has not left for Gaza, as confirmed by members of his party, the Jamaat e Ulema e Islami (F) – JUI(F).
On 5 November 2023, an Instagram post (archived) claimed that Maulana Fazl ur Rahman, founder of the Jamaat e Ulema e Islami (F) party, has departed with aid for Gaza and is “the first Muslim country leader to do so”.
The caption said, “BREAKING: Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam chief Maulana Fazal ur Rehman has reportedly departed for Gaza with aid and essentials for those struggling, according to Geo News. Maulana’s travel plans are kept secret due to security reasons, the channel said. According to some other reports Maulana left for Qatar last night on a four-day visit. #newsglobe #news #pakistan #israel #telaviv #breaking”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reached out to Maulana Muhammad Gohar Shah, a former member of the National Assembly and a member of the Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami (F), who told us that although Maulana Fazl ur Rehman is actively collecting donations fand organising public demonstrations for the people of Gaza, he has not left for Gaza with aid, as claimed on social media.
Soch Fact Check also extensively reviewed the post on Rehman’s account on X (formerly, Twitter), and found that although the JUI-F leader had spoken against the genocide in Gaza several times, he did not announce leaving for Gaza on his X account.
When we reviewed credible local news organisations to see whether they had reported on Rehman’s decision to travel to Gaza, we did not find any such news. However, we found news articles denying the fact.
A news article published by SAMAA claimed that they had spoken to a JUI-F official who expressly denied that Rehman had left for Gaza. However, the official did claim that Maulana Fazl ur Rehman travelled to Qatar to meet the Hamas leadership.
This news report by AAJ TV also reasserts the claim that Maulana Fazl ur Rehman left for Qatar to meet Hamas leadership. It further claims that Rehman is the first Muslim leader to have gone to the Middle East with regard to the Israel-Hamas escalation.
Another digital news organisation, MM News TV first published an article claiming that Rehman has indeed left for Gaza, citing JUI-F official Aslam Ghauri as a source. The outlet then published another article on the same day, citing Aslam Ghauri as a source again, claiming that the story about Rehman leaving for Gaza is fake. According to the article, “ ‘This news story is fake, Maulana did not leave for Gaza’, Ghauri told MM News adding that the reporter who has filed the news story has exaggerated the things.”
The News also published a similar article, claiming that Aslam Ghauri had informed the outlet of Rehman’s departure for Gaza. However, DAWN and Arab News, both claim that the alleged visit was to Qatar, and not to Gaza, where Rehman met the Hamas leadership.
Virality
On Facebook, we found several posts repeating the claim. Some of them can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: Maulana Fazl ur Rehman did not leave for Gaza with aid.
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Background image in cover photo: ARY
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