Claim: Maulana Yousaf Jamil, the son of Pakistan’s famed television preacher Maulana Tariq Jamil, has been critically injured in a traffic accident, a photo circulating on social media shows.
Fact: Maulana Yousaf Jamil has clarified in a video statement that he is fine and has not been in an accident. The viral image is, in fact, of Maulana Azad Jameel, who was indeed wounded in a car crash in May 2019. Therefore, the pictures are more than three years old.
On 3 January 2023, Twitter user @Zia_Urehman_Pti posted a picture showing a man lying on a hospital bed in bloodied clothes — a black coat over a kurta shalwar — and doctors treating him.
The tweet, which was viewed more than 16,400 times, retweeted over 100 times, and has upwards of 300 ‘likes’ and 70 comments, was captioned as follows:
“بریکنگ نیوز
مولانا طارق جمیل کے بیٹے کا ایکسیڈنٹ ہوا ہے سب دوستوں سے دعا کی اپیل کی جاتی ہےالللہ پاک صحت عطا کرے آمین
کمنٹ میں آمین لکھ کر ری ٹوئٹ کرتے جاؤ
[Breaking News
Maulana Tariq Jameel’s son has been in an accident. Appealing all friends to pray. May God grant him a speedy recovery. Amen.
Write Amen in the comment and retweet]”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check used reverse image search tools, as well as some relevant keywords, to find the source of the picture. We found this 22 December 2020 post by Facebook page ‘Kamrankami’, this 24 December 2020 post by Facebook user ‘Rana Amir’, and this 3 January 2023 post by ‘Alinaa Sheikh’, as well as this tweet by Twitter user @zarjan_b.
The tweet by @zarjan_b shows the screenshot of a Facebook post by Maulana Azad Jameel that states the picture circulating online is of an accident from four years ago.
While we were unable to find the specific post, we were able to look up the Facebook page of Maulana Azad Jameel, where we found a post from 30 May 2019, with the accompanying caption as follows:
“معروف نوجوان مذہبی اسکالر مولانا آزاد جمیل صاحب روڈ ایکسیڈنٹ مولانا شدید زخمی تمام امت مسلمہ سے دعا کی درخواست ھے
[Renowned young religious scholar Maulana Azad Jameel sahab road accident, maulana seriously injured, request for prayers from all Muslim Ummah]”
Soch Fact Check then found a video on YouTube channel Takhleeq TV — archived here — posted on 30 May 2019 and titled, “Maulana Azad Jameel Road Accident.” Pictures, which include some from the same video but from other angles, were found in a post by Facebook page ‘Kohat times’.
Jameel is also a Pakistani religious scholar whose voice and tone appear to sound very similar to Maulana Tariq Jameel’s.
We found a video from 4 September 2019 in which Jameel is seen with a bandage on his nose, indicating that he was recovering from his injuries a few months ago. The clip — titled “Molana Azad Jameel After Accident” — was posted by YouTube channel Wel Come.
Azad Jameel has appeared on BOL News as seen on the outlet’s verified YouTube channel here, here, and here.
On the other hand, Maulana Yousaf Jamil — the son of Maulana Tariq Jamil — posted a video statement on Facebook on 3 January 2023, clarifying that he is safe and fine and has not been in any accident.
Last month, Tariq Jamil suffered a heart attack in Canada and was shifted to a hospital. Yousaf Jamil, his son, tweeted about it on 27 December 2022; he also provided an update a few days later, saying his father had been “discharged from the hospital”.
On 28 December 2022, the preacher’s official account posted a picture of him in a hospital bed.
اللہ کے فضل اور آپ احباب کی دعاؤں سے اب طبیعت قدرے بہتر ہے. تین دن مزید ہسپتال میں ڈاکٹرز کے زیرِ نگہداشت رہنے کے بعد انشاءاللہ ڈسچارج کر دیا جائے گا. مزید دعاؤں کی درخواست ہے. pic.twitter.com/4t0OrLzaOP
— Tariq Jamil (@TariqJamilOFCL) December 28, 2022
This is not the first time the picture has been linked to Maulana Tariq Jamil or his son and posted online. It was posted here, here, here, here, and here in 2021, while, in 2019, it was shared here and here.
Similar claims also surfaced in November 2021 but were shut down by the preacher through a Facebook post.
However, in 2020, Maulana Tariq Jamil suffered some wounds after a fall due to blood pressure issues. He tweeted about it here.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the image here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here on Twitter, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook, and here on YouTube.
It was posted as Facebook Reels here, here, here, here, and here. Two news websites picked it up and published reports here and here.
Soch Fact Check also conducted a CrowdTangle analysis for the period between 1 January 2023 and 12 January using the following search terms:
- “مولانا طارق جمیل کے بیٹے کا ایکسیڈنٹ ہوا ہے”
- “مولانا طارق جمیل ایکسیڈنٹ”
The first search term turned up more than 260 posts on Facebook, where they gained 110,167 interactions, whereas the second one showed upwards of 205,000 interactions across 600 posts on Facebook.
Conclusion: Maulana Yousaf Jamil has not been in an accident, he clarified in a video statement. The image circulating on social media is, in fact, of Maulana Azad Jameel, who was wounded in a May 2019 car crash. The pictures are more than three years old.