Fake News

President Trump Promotes Fake News

During his presidential campaign and afterwards, President Trump has constantly complained of "fake news" regarding himself, his campaign and his family. Yesterday, President Trump retweeted three videos from the Twitter account of Jayda Fransen. She is the deputy leader of Britain First, an obscure far-right outfit widely considered to be a hate group. Ms Fransen is charged with “religiously aggravated harassment” after shouting abuse at a hijab-wearing woman and her children.

The three tweets presented videos of murky origin with flat, crude captions: “Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!”, “Muslim destroys a statue of Virgin Mary!” and “Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!” We cannot think of any reason for these tweets, except to demonise Muslims. Two of the videos are from 2013. Why would the US President retweet them four years later?

As for the the video that depicts an Egyptian crowd shoving a teen off a building amid a political protest, the perpetrator was later detained and hanged. The video of the supposed “Muslim migrant” attacking a Dutch boy, which surfaced this May, actually featured two Dutch nationals. Neither police nor local news identified either as Muslim or an immigrant. In fact, the Dutch embassy in Washington said: “The perpetrator of the violent act in this video was born and raised in the Netherlands. He received and completed his sentence under Dutch law.”

In a spirit of reconciliation, we wish to draw President Trump’s attention to the Holy Quran, which tells people:

“Ascertain the truth of any news, lest you smite someone in ignorance and afterwards repent of what you did” (49:6)

“When you hear something malicious about someone, keep a favourable view about him/her until you attain full knowledge about the matter. Consider others innocent until they are proven guilty with solid and truthful evidence” (24:12–13)

“If you do not have complete knowledge about anything, better keep silent. You might think that speaking about something without full knowledge is a trivial matter. But it might have grave consequences” (24:15–16)

The Ahmadiyya Association for the Propagation of Islam (Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam) was established in Lahore in 1914 to promote the informed understanding of Islam in the West. In the UK it operated the Shah Jehan Mosque in Woking until the early 1960s. Its new headquarters is at Dar-us-Salaam, 15 Stanley Avenue, Wembley, HA0 4JQ, UK. In 1924, in Berlin, it built the first mosque in Continental Europe of the modern era. The Berlin Mosque is now recognised by the German government as part of the German national heritage. From its European and other centres around the world this organisation has taught that Islam promotes peace, harmony and mutual respect between all communities and nationalities.

• Submissions in 2016 to UK Parliament Inquiries:
  • Countering Extremism
    • Our submission: pdf • html
  • Sharia Councils:
    • Our submission: pdf • html