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| - Fact Check: Cleric removing taweez from Muslim child's neck in Bangladesh given communal spin
India Today found that the boy in the video is not Hindu but Muslim. His name is Sohail Haque, and his father is Abdul Haque. They reside in the Char Algi village in the Noakhali district of Bangladesh.
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India Today Fact Check
The child seen in the video is not Hindu but Muslim. His name is Sohail Haque and the cleric removed a taweez or amulet from around his neck.
Approximately 50 lakh people in 11 districts of Bangladesh have been severely affected by flooding. According to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief in Bangladesh, the floods have killed at least 67 people.
A video now viral on social media purports to show a Muslim cleric removing a sacred thread from around a Hindu child's neck as the child stands in water. An Instagram user shared the clip, and wrote, “A Maulvi gave relief material to a Hindu child in Bangladesh and cut off his ‘mala’ in return while saying Subhan Allah, Allah Hu Akbar. When the child asked for ‘Mala’, they told him to take the relief material and leave and not worry about Mala.”
India Today Fact Check found that the boy in the video is not Hindu but Muslim. His name is Sohail Haque, and his father is Abdul Haque. They reside in the Char Algi village in the Noakhali district of Bangladesh. No Hindu deity’s picture or mala was removed from around his neck. Instead, the man removed a Muslim amulet or “taweez”.
Our Probe
The video contained Bangla text, which translates to: “Relief materials handed over to the son in Noakhali and removed his shirk.”
A subsequent search with related keywords led us to a Facebook page named Tawheed Academy and Islamic Center, where we found the same clip. The post in Bangla translates to: “Alhamdulillah, Tawheed Academy and Islamic Center distributed relief materials to 200+ families among the flood victims of Noakhali.”
We then contacted the Tawheed Academy and Islamic Center to get to the bottom of the matter. Malek Miyazi, the assistant principal of the Jami'a Darut Tawheed Madrasa, which is run by Tawheed Academy and Islamic Center, told India Today Fact Check that he was the individual who removed the taweez from a child's neck. “The child seen in the video is not a Hindu. He is Muslim and his name is Sohail Haque. His father’s name is Abdul Haque. They reside in Char Algi village, Noakhali district, Bangladesh. And no Hindu deity’s picture or mala was torn from his neck. Instead, a Muslim’s taweez was removed,” he explained.
Miyazi said: “A taweez is an amulet, often containing verses from the Quran or other religious inscriptions, that is worn by some Muslims for protection or healing. However, according to Islam, relying on a taweez for protection might imply a lack of trust in Allah, which is called Shirk. So during the distribution of relief, we remove any taweez we see on someone’s body to free Muslims from Shirk. When this child came to us for relief, we noticed a taweez around his neck. I removed it with my teeth. This is not an issue of Hindu-Muslim relations, as there is no Hindu community in that area; it is entirely inhabited by Muslims.”
Miyazi also provided an introduction video of a child as evidence of his religious identity. In the video, the child states his name and identity and reads from the Quran. He says, "My name is Sohail. My father's name is Abdul Haque. My home is in Char Algi village, Noakhali district, Bangladesh. I am a third-grade student at a local madrasa."
Thus, it’s clear that the viral video doesn't show a Muslim cleric removing a sacred Hindu thread from around a Hindu child's neck; instead, it shows the cleric removing an Islamic amulet from a Muslim child.
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