False quotes of Dr. Yunus take on a religious spin
On August 5, following a student-led revolution, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina resigned as Prime Minister and left the country. The President then dissolved the parliament and appointed an interim government on August 8, with Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus as the chief adviser. Since then, several false information about Yunus have circulated on Facebook. Dismislab has found several cases of religiously colored false information spreading online involving Yunus.
The latest misinformation involving Dr. Yunus claimed that photos from the office of the chief adviser were replaced with the Arabic Kalima Tayyiba. Multiple Facebook posts (1, 2, 3) shared a picture of the office with similar captions stating, “Alhamdulillah! Many changes. Previously there were photos above the head, now ‘Kalima La-ilaha-illallah-muhammadur-rasulullah (pbuh)’ is written above.” In the same post, one user commented, “Insha’Allah everyone has an Islamic attitude.” In another post, a user commented, “Allama Delwar Hossain Sayedee’s dreams seem to be coming true.”
However, verification revealed the claim to be false. Dismislab found multiple news reports with the same image through a reverse image search. The Kalima Tayyiba verse in Arabic was already present in the same location in the office during the tenure of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The earliest report featuring photos of the office is from The Daily Sun, dated September 10, 2018, and discussed the approval of the ‘Motorcycle Industry Development Policy-2018’. Additionally, a 2022 report from banglanews24.com and a report from May this year by Prothom Alo both show the Kalima Tayyiba verse in the office picture. Thus, the Arabic Kalima Tayyiba was present long before the recent claims, and no incident of rewriting occurred.
Since Dr. Yunus became chief adviser, several other religiously colored misinformation claims have circulated. On August 20, a fake Jamuna TV photo card was posted on Facebook, claiming that Dr. Yunus had made electricity bills for all mosques and madrasas free starting September 1. Both the claim and the media graphic card were fabricated, as confirmed by a fact-checking report from a Bangladeshi fact-check organization.
At the same time, a different claim spread on Facebook, stating that Dr. Yunus had announced that no administrative approval was needed to hold Quran Mahfil events in Bangladesh. However, the post did not cite any sources for this statement. A subsequent fact-check report confirmed the comment was false. It is worth noting that there had previously been incidents in Bangladesh where authorities halted such events for lack of proper permission.
This month, another piece of religious-colored misinformation about Dr. Yunus spread. Several Facebook posts, along with duplicated media graphic cards, falsely claimed that the chief adviser had expressed his love for Islamic clerics and a desire to work with them. A fact-check report later confirmed that this claim was false. The news media associated with these photocards did not issue such cards, and no media reports supported the alleged statement by Dr. Yunus.
In addition to religious misinformation, other false claims about Dr. Yunus have circulated on social media. One such claim involved financial grants, with a Facebook post and link alleging that he was donating 5,000 BDT to all citizens and student movement participants amid the current situation. A fact-check report later confirmed that this claim was baseless.
Additionally, several other false claims have emerged. These include that Dr. Yunus is banning cricket in the country or requiring post-graduation for chairmanship positions. Fact-check reports from several fact-checking organizations (1, 2) have confirmed that these claims are false.
