Coinciding with the FIFA World Cup matches taking place in Qatar, Arabic-language social media pages were crowded with tens of thousands of posts generating tens of millions of interactions. However, many of these publications have moved away from the football aspect of this most important sporting event in the world, to talk about religious and national “achievements” that originate only in the imagination of their promoters.
In the first three days of the World Cup, which is being held for the first time in an Arab country, Facebook posts with the name “Qatar” in Arabic attracted more than 37 million interactions. However, millions of these interactions have involved erroneous publications of an Islamic religious nature, or relating to the Arab-Israeli conflict, in what Tunisian university professor specializing in sociology, Muhammad al-Juwaili, sees as an expression of “desires and aspirations, as well as political and social frustrations”.
“Arab Islamic Conquest”
On “Facebook”, “Twitter” and “Instagram”, as well as on the “WhatsApp” application, a post has circulated in recent days that speaks of an “Arab-Islamic conquest” achieved by Qatar by hosting the World Cup. The post, which garnered tens of thousands of messages, describes the current atmosphere in Qatar as a season for introducing Islam and engaging with the West culturally, intellectually and politically.
A video showing a young woman delivering the two testimonies has amassed tens of thousands of views, and was said to depict a Western fan’s conversion to Islam in Qatar on the sidelines of the World Cup. It is true that the girl shown in the video announced her conversion to Islam, but in the US state of Texas a few weeks ago, and not in Qatar in recent days.
A video of four young men giving two testimonies of faith has garnered tens of thousands of views, and its publishers said it was also filmed in Qatar in recent days. But the video was shot in 2016 and has nothing to do with the World Cup in Qatar. As for the video, which is said to show more than 500 people converting to Islam, “in the first fruits of the World Cup,” it was previously released by Arab media years ago.
According to Muhammad al-Juwaili, who previously headed the National Youth Observatory in Tunisia, the ratification of these publications and their dissemination with other publications that talk about the conversion of famous people or Western citizens to Islam indicates “a desire to demonstrate presence in the global scene and the ability to influence and compete with Western civilization”.
“Those who fabricate this news often know it’s not true, but they also know that there are many who want to believe it, especially those who haven’t had a media education,” he told AFP.
Opening Recitation of the World Cup from the Quran?
Among the publications that have obtained great interaction on the pages of Arab communication sites, a video that allegedly showed the opening of the World Cup with a recitation of the Koran. But in fact, it is not possible to speak of a “Koranic recitation” at the opening ceremony as much as a quotation from the thirteenth verse of Surat Al-Hujurat, “O people, verily We have created you from male and female, and made nations and tribes so that you can get to know each other Humanity in a speech show that brought together the American actor Morgan Freeman and the Qatari Ghanem Al-Moftah, the influencer on communication sites and the ambassador of the World Cup.
As for the circulating video that was supposed to document the recitation of the Koran at the opening of the World Cup, it was actually released last year at the inauguration ceremony of the Al-Thumama stadium in Doha.
In the same context, a video released in several languages around the world claimed to show a group prayer in a stadium in Qatar during the World Cup, but this statement is incorrect, and the video shows a group prayer in a stadium in the Republic Russian of Tatarstan in the month of Ramadan of 2019 year.
And with the announcement of controversial Indian preacher Zakir Naik’s arrival in Doha, publications bearing his name on “Facebook” and “Instagram” in Arabic garnered nearly three million interactions in one day, according to data shown by the ‘Crowd Tangle’, which specializes in monitoring social networking sites, while the preacher has arrived in Qatar during a season that sees song-and-dance performances in supporters’ areas where drinking alcohol is permitted.
And leaflets appeared attached to a video talking about Zakir Naik meeting well-known preachers from the Arab world in Qatar to launch Islam preaching activities, but this video is actually made up of three video clips from previous years, and not it has nothing to do with the World Cup in Qatar.
Lebanese cleric Tariq Al-Saftly commented on these publications on his Facebook page, warning against their dissemination, saying: “I understand the enthusiasm of some and the jealousy of others, and I understand the need for us to thirst for victory in a specific field, but our religion is a religion of reason and accuracy.”
Flags of Palestine
While some users opposed to the Qatari policy criticized Doha for having operated – through a Cypriot company – a direct flight line to Tel Aviv to transport Israeli fans, an image appeared on pro-Doha Facebook pages and accounts that allegedly showed the lighting of the Jaber Tower in the Qatari capital with the flag of Palestine, during the World Cup, in what has been called a Qatari challenge to Western countries that support Israel in this global season. However, the accusation is wrong, as it emerged that the photo dates back to last August, when the tower was actually lit up with the Palestinian flag, following a bloody attack launched by Israel on the besieged Strip.
Pages and Reports also circulated a videotape that was said to show fans chanting in the name of Palestine in front of a fan carrying the Israeli flag, with the claim that it was recently filmed in Qatar. It is true that the media have reported stories and scenes about Arab fans boycotting Israelis or Israeli media correspondents during the World Cup, but this particular video, which shows fans chanting in the name of Palestine, is old and was filmed during the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and was released by Arab media at the time.
“Any event of global interest can be an opportunity to launch parallel news”, says the Tunisian sociologist.
And he concludes by saying: “These global events can be an opportunity to enrich the idea of diversity, and people can get to know each other and learn about their customs and characteristics”, just as they can be an occasion to try “to contain or make all people alike in a culture.”
