by Shoaib Hussain
A fake video being spread on social media currently claims Saudi Arabia got the Eid moon sighting wrong. It begins with a professional looking rotating Globe which deceives the most naive viewers to believe it is an actual News Channel.
Then a worried man appears, in what looks like a borrowed suit, who explains in the strongest of Iranian accents possible, falsely announcing that the Saudi Arabian moon sighting was wrong.
In the bottom left we see the name of who is speaking for “Shia waves” and in the top right hand of the screen we see “Imam Hussain” written in English under an Arabic logo which also reads “Imam Hussain”. Its pretty obvious by now what it going on.
If the signals were not clear the video is a fake, the “reporter” goes on to make preposterous claims; that the planet Saturn was confused for the crescent moon. To back up his lies he falsely claims that Al-Jazeera has reported this as well and that it has caused anger in many Muslim nations.
If anyone was labouring under the illusion that this wasn’t a lie, he generously hands out more of them “Saudi government officials has reportedly apologised to their nation and said that they paid One billion and six million Riyals as kaffara (expiation) for the entire Saudi nation” – a claim of something which again, simply did not happen.
This is nothing new. These lies have always been thrown at Saudi Arabia by those who disagree with the nations ideology or foreign policy. In 2011 rumours were spread and every year since.
In the below image, you can clearly see the moon which was seen is Saudi Arabia, as reported by Jaag TV of Pakistan. For the sake of reference I’ve included what Saturn and Venus (the bright one) look like in the sky. A question arises: How could anyone confuse the two?
Wait. Rub that.
The real question is why would anyone accuse Saudi of confusing the two? Why would someone go to such a length to spread lies against Saudi Arabia? Is this part of Iran’s ideological attack on Saudi Arabia?
Article first published on Muslim World Journal.
Also read: The Thorough Procedure of Moonsighting in Saudi Arabia.
