FACT CHECK: MUSLIMS IN THE MIDDLE EAST SING ‘HARI BHAJAN’ INSIDE MOSQUE

Thu 23 January 2025:

A video of men and women dressed in traditional MIddle Eastern attire and reciting Satya Sai Bhajan is viral on social media.

Users claim that “We are often opposed and ridiculed by our Asian Muslim brothers that we worship false Gods check this video where the real Arabian Muslims are worshipping the same God we Sanatanis believe in. Hari Om.”

The video has been widely shared on Youtube, and several other social media platforms.

Independent Press performed a reverse image search and found the longer version of the video on youtube uploaded by the official channel of Sri Satya Sai in 2012.

According to the description, this video is of an Arab-themed bhajan held at Satya Sai Baba’s Ashram, also known as Prasanthi Nilayam in the village of Puttaparthi in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh, India.

A “Prashanthi” pilgrimage by the Region 94 of the Sai Organisation comprising the countries from Middle East and Gulf has enveloped Prasanthi Nilayam with Islamic Fervor. Devotees from Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey and United Arab Emirates, provided an Arabic flavour in Prasanthi Nilayam,” the text reads.

The official website of Sri Satya Sai also carries the same video and states that the concert by the devotees was entitled ‘Sarva Dharma Swaroopa Sai’. It exalted the five cardinal human values -Sathya (Truth), Dharma (Righteousness), Shanti (Peace), Prema (Love), and Ahimsa (Non-Violence) which Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba embodied.

It wasn’t just the Middle East and Gulf pilgrims who performed at Sri Satya Sai. Over 120 devotees from various Russian-speaking countries presented a Choir with 11 songs and Bhajans. Devotees from Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, and Thailand offered an Indonesian heritage dance and the 2012 batch of B.Sc. Nursing students of College of Nursing, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Bangalore also presented a Musical Bouquet at the Sanctum Sanctorum in Prasanthi Nilayam.

The Sathya Sai Baba International Organisation said that while not all the participants seen in the video are Muslims or Arabs, some of them most definitely are.

“Devotees often perfom in Prasanthi Nilayam, dressed in the traditional attire of the countries/regions they represent and that explains their appearance. But it is a regular event in Puttaparthi, of people from different religions and nationalities coming together and chanting Vedas, singing bhajans, christmas carols and sufi songs.”

Independent Press also compared the viral video background to that of Prasanthi Nilayam’s infrastructure and found that it is not a mosque but a peace center at Sri Satya Sai.

It is safe to say that the viral video is of a 2012 Arab-themed bhajan held by the Middle East and Gulf devotees at Prasanthi Nilayam in India’s Andhra Pradesh. They are not Muslims.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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