Claim of US Police Reciting Azan Out of Fear of Iranian Attack is False
A photo has recently circulated on the social media platform Facebook claiming that American police have begun reciting the Azan (call to prayer) out of fear to save themselves from an Iranian attack. However, a fact-check reveals that the original incident took place in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and is about 5 years old.
A photo was posted in a public Facebook group showing an individual in a police uniform standing in a posture of delivering the Azan before a microphone. In the photo, text marked with a red circle and arrow reads: “To save themselves from Iran’s attack, US police have started giving the Azan out of fear.”
Hundreds of profiles were seen expressing satisfaction in the comments of such a post. To date, the post has been shared more than 1,900 times.
A keyframe search by Dismislab located reports published in April 2021 by several media outlets based in Turkey, Qatar, and Lebanon. The photo published in those media reports is an exact match to the circulating photo. In both images, the individual’s face, clothing, and posture, as well as the building in the background and the microphone in front, match perfectly.
According to the Qatar-based media outlet Al Arab and the Lebanon-based media outlet Al Jadeed, Corporal Nader Khalil delivered the Maghrib Azan (sunset call to prayer) as the first Muslim member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). He delivered the call to prayer on the fourth day of the holy month of Ramadan (April 16) in 2021 at the Akram Juma Mosque located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The Alberta branch of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, RCMP Alberta, also released a video of this event from their verified X account. Furthermore, the Turkey-based media outlet TRT World reported in a video on April 23 that the cities of Edmonton and Calgary in Canada were permitting certain mosques to broadcast the Maghrib Azan at sunset throughout the holy month of Ramadan.
It is noteworthy that the broadcast of the Azan is generally prohibited in Canada under city noise pollution bylaws. However, in 2021, authorities in Edmonton and Calgary allowed the Azan in some mosques for the second time on the occasion of Ramadan.
That is to say, the image circulating with the claim of US police giving the Azan out of fear of an Iranian attack is of a Canadian Muslim police officer. It is a photo from the time of the Maghrib Azan during Ramadan in Canada nearly five years ago. It has no connection to an attack by Iran.
