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  • 2021-02-19 (xsd:date)
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  • Images show a former church turned into a mosque in Hamburg, Germany (en)
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  • A Facebook post shared in Kenya purports to show images of a church in Washington DC being converted into a mosque. But the claim is false: AFP Fact Check found that while the photos do show a church that was turned into a mosque, the building is located in Hamburg, Germany, not in the United States. Church in American washington...change into mosque now it called masjid issa ibn maryam (sic) , reads the Facebook post published on February 6, 2021. Screenshot of the false Facebook claim, taken on February 10, 2021 The post includes two side-by-side images of the top of the same structure. The building in the photo on the right has a cross on the top, while the left features a sign saying Allah in Arabic. The majority of comments on the post indicated support for the building’s conversion, although a few claimed the image was doctored. Both images are authentic but the claim that the building is in the United States is false. The photos are of a church in Hamburg, Germany, which was transformed into a mosque in 2018. Formerly the Lutheran Capernaum Church, the building is now the Al-Nour mosque. By running a reverse image search on both images, AFP Fact Check traced the image with the Muslim sign to an extremist Dutch-language blog based in Belgium. According to reverse image tool TinEye , the photo first appeared online on July 1, 2016. Screenshot of the TinEye search result, taken February 11, 2020 A search on Getty images revealed multiple photos documenting the inauguration of the mosque. The caption of the below photo notes that the building was a former church. Screenshot from Getty Images of Al-Nour mosque Germany, taken on February 11, 2021 AFP Fact Check geolocated the building in Hamburg with the address for the Al-Nour mosque provided by Google. Using the Google Street View option, AFP Fact Check found images of the building where the red brick tower is clearly visible. Search result for Al-Nour Islamic Center on Google Street View, taken on February 17, 2020 According to the information provided by Google, the street view image was captured in April 2010, which predates the building’s conversion into a mosque. A closer look at the tower reveals a cross on top. Closer screenshot of the tower on Google Street View, taken on February 17, 2021 The mosque’s opening ceremony was on September 26, 2018. A search on YouTube yielded results with footage of the inauguration ceremony, which was uploaded on October 9, 2018. The former ambassador of Kuwait, Nadzib Al-Bader, and the former chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, attended the opening, according to RMX news. The Allah sign that sits on top of the tower today is clearly visible at the beginning of this footage captured by ARD Mittagsmagazin on YouTube the day of the opening ceremony. Screenshot from Alamy of an image of the opening ceremony on September 26, 2018 AFP Fact Check reached out to the Association of Protestant Churches and Missions in Germany, who sold the church in 2012 , as well as the Al-Nour Islamic Center in Hamburg, but neither have responded yet. AFP Fact Check will update this debunk if either organisation provides comments. (en)
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