“War is deceit,” said Muhammad (Bukhari 4.52.268). The same claim has been made about the Chinese Premier.
“Old video of interfaith service viral as Donald Trump offers Islamic prayers amid coronavirus pandemic,” by Archit Mehta, Alt News, March 28, 2020 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
…As the US becomes the new epicentre for the coronavirus, a 3-minute video with the claim “US President Trump joins Muslims prayers for respite from Coronavirus after failing to tackle it” has gone viral. On the bottom right corner, the viral video has a logo of ABC News. Alt News received several requests to fact-check the viral video on WhatsApp (+91 76000 11160) and on our official Android application.
This video has been shared along with Hindi text by a Twitter user @rtapgarhiSonu (archive link) and Facebook user Hema Sankhe (archive link) as well. The Hindi text says, “The world’s most powerful country also acknowledged the power of the Quran and read the Quran in the White House and prayed for Crona, share this, respect every religion (Translated from दुनिया के सबसे बड़े ताकतवर मुल्क ने भी माना कुरान की ताकत को और व्हाइट हाउस में कुरान पढ़ा गया और दुआ की गई क्रोना के लिए शेयर कीजिए,हर धर्म का सम्मान करों)”.
Fact-check
Alt News performed a reverse image search on Yandex and found link which suggested that the video could be from an interfaith service held in 2017.
Using that as a clue Alt News performed a keyword search on YouTube and found that the viral video is a clip from the National Prayer Service for the 58th presidential inauguration at the National Cathedral, Washington on January 21, 2017. According to a 2017 article in NPR, “The inaugural prayer service is a tradition that began with President George Washington and was revived in 1933 by President Franklin Roosevelt, continuing ever since.”
The guest list for the event is available on the National Cathedral‘s website. Islam was represented by Imam Mohamed Magid, executive Imam, ADAMS Center, Sterling, Virginia and Sajid Tarar, advisor, Medina Masjid, Baltimore, Maryland at the event….
