No, this man did not die protecting Al-Aqsa Mosque during the recent attack

Hyderabad: An image of a smiling man draped in a shroud is doing the rounds on social media following the recent attack inside Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem that left at least 12 Palestinians injured. The image of the man is being shared with the claim that he died while protecting Al-Aqsa Mosque from attackers.

The text on the photo reads, “This brother died while protecting Masjid Al-Aqsa from blast and attacks, Muslims honoured him as a martyr…”

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false and unrelated to the recent Al-Aqsa attack.

On performing a reverse image search of the viral image, we found the same image in a blog post titled “Activities of KPTM” from 2014 which describes an orientation program on funeral management.

Kolej Poly-Tech MARA (KPTM) formerly known as Kolej Yayasan Pelajaran MARA (KYPM) is a private higher institution in Malaysia established in September 2003 where students also learn funeral management.

The blog states, “…the students should be encouraged to learn about funeral management so that there is continuity in the implementation of this responsibility, religious knowledge and management techniques remain important not only for Muslims, but it is “Fardhu Kifayah” in the event of death. Many Muslims probably do not know the funeral management technique such as bathing, Kafan and funeral prayer correctly. This program is to give awareness to the students as the next generation about the importance of studying funeral management.”

Further, a keyword search led us to a Facebook post with the same image and date. The image was captioned, “Arwah baik orangnya #ProgramRehlahAl-Khulud— at Kolej Poly-Tech MARA.” The location was Kuala Lampur, Malaysia.

From the above investigation, it is evident that the smiling man wrapped in a shroud is not a martyr who died protecting the Al-Aqsa mosque during the recent attack. In fact, the photo shows a volunteer during a programme on funeral management.