Did Islamic preacher Zakir Naik convert people to Islam at Qatar World Cup?

Hyderabad: A video of controversial Islamic preacher and televangelist Zakir Naik is being shared with the claim that he is converting people to Islam during the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.

The claim comes as Naik, accused of money laundering and hate speech in India, has been invited by Qatar to give religious sermons throughout the World Cup.

A Twitter user shared the video and wrote, "Zakir Naik has started doing for what he was invited by the Terrorist Regime of #Qatar in FIFA World Cup. Yes, converting people to Islam. I won't be surprised if many of these were also Paid to convert & later found in Terrorist Activities. It would be such a Qatari thing." (Archive)

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Fact Check

NewsMeter performed a reverse image search of the video's keyframes and found that it was tweeted by a Qatari journalist, Jaber Al Harami, in 2016. The tweet said four people had accepted Islam after a lecture by Zakir Nair in Qatar.

Aljazeera Mubasher also published a longer version of the same video in 2016. It also said that four people declared conversion to Islam after a lecture by Zakir Naik on the topic "Does God Exist?"

According to an article in Gulf Times published on 29 May 2016, Naik delivered a lecture at the Katara Amphitheatre on the topic "Does God Exist?." It reported that hundreds of people attended the lecture, and many embraced Islam during the function.

Al-Sharq, in an article published on 28 May 2016, reported that over eight people converted to Islam at Naik's lecture in Katara. The article also carried a screenshot of the viral video.

It is evident that though the video is from Qatar, it dates back to 2016. Hence, the claim of Naik converting people to Islam at the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022 is misleading.