Accounts on social media circulated an image whose posters claimed it showed the imam of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus holding an anti-armor weapon on the pulpit during the Friday sermon.
The fact-checking team examined the circulating image visually and technically and ran a reverse image search using Google Lens, and found that the image had been digitally manipulated by adding an anti-armor weapon to it, while the original image shows the imam holding a sword. A review of the context of the scene showed that carrying a sword during the sermon reflects a historic and symbolic tradition kept in some mosques; it is not a requirement of the Friday sermon and is not carried in every sermon.
Why is this claim misleading?
Digital manipulation: The claim relied on editing a genuine image and adding an anti-armor weapon to it, changing the meaning of the original scene to suggest the imam carried a weapon on the pulpit, whereas the original shows him holding a sword in line with a symbolic tradition.
