Fact Check: Social media users falsely claim wood carving of Mecca by Singaporean firm made by UP artist
By Newsmeter Network Published on 13 Oct 2020 2:20 PM GMT
Hyderabad: Photographs of a famous artisan from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, making intricate wood carvings have gone viral on social media.
A Twitter user shared the photos and wrote, "The famous artisan Gulfam Bhai of Saharanpur has proved by making it that the district Saharanpur is no less than anyone in the world What a beautiful design of Masjid-e-Haram made with Mashaallah wood It took 6 to 8 months to make it (sic)."
Click here to view a similar claim.
FACT CHECK:
The claim that the artist is from Uttar Pradesh is FALSE.
NewsMeter performed a reverse image search and found a Facebook page that had posted these photos on 7 October 2020. According to the post, the Islamic holy site Mecca was handcrafted from solid teak wood over a period of six-eight months and will be finished by the end of 2020.
Look: Islamic Holy Site Makkah handcrafted from solid teak wood over a period of 6-8 months. The 3 dimensional carving...
Posted by Saudi Buzz onļæ½ Tuesday, October 6, 2020
The post provided a link to the website Mahajati. We found that Mahajati is a platform for traditional handmade art and shares the beauty of Islam through art. An Instagram account was also provided in the Facebook post and we found that this account had also posted the viral images.
We then contacted them via email and received a reply saying that they are a Singapore-registered company with woodworking facilities in Indonesia and that most of their artists are Indonesian. This proves that the artist is not from Uttar Pradesh.
Hence, the claim is FALSE.
