Did Spain allow the reading out of azaan that was banned for 500 years?

April 30, 2020 Sai Keerthi

Spread the truth:

A video has been circulating online and been viewed thousands of times on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The video allegedly shows azaan or the Islamic call to prayer being read out in a mosque in Spain. The caption on the said post states that its the first azaan being read out in the country in a span of 500 years after it was abolished. An English translation of the caption reads as follows:

“After 500 years ago Azan was banned in Spain (Andalusia), only yesterday (March 28, 2020) Azan was first proclaimed in a country where Islam once triumphed, and this happened when the Corona crisis took place globally.

ALLAH IS THE GREATEST”

The video can be found here and a screenshot of the same is attached below:

The sentence in the above image reads : ” Azan sounds resound in Córdoba in Spain”

The archived video can be found here.

Facebook

Twitter

Untuk Pertama x, setelah 500th di larang, di tengah wbh Corona yg melanda, Spanyol, bumi yg pernah 100an th wilayah umat Islam Andalusia kini boleh azan kembali dgn pengeras suara.Takbir, AllahhuAkbar! #azan #spanyol #andalusia

Cc. @teriwinarno1 @VADUKA__KOLAK @TrisnaKSasmita pic.twitter.com/XPK8nS9w2W

— Jenong (@yantipuspita21) March 31, 2020

YouTube

Truth

The context explaining the said video is found to be false. The video when searched using Google Reverse image search revealed the said location to be Azerbaijan. Furthermore, further search revealed that the post was initially posted on Instagram on the account of an Instagram user Kenan Musaev. However, on searching the said user, it was found that the post has since then been removed. According to other fact checking websites, the video was posted on November 20, 2019. This is before the pandemic had hit Spain and therefore the post is taken out of context. The Instagram post according to translation provided by fact checking website AFP read, “The city where we hear the call to prayer.. Balakan!”.

The city of Balakan as mention in the post is situated in the northwestern part of Azerbaijan. According to a search on Google Maps regarding the same, the mosque as shown in the video is the Central Friday Mosque (translated from : Mərkəzi Cümə məscidi). The image can be viewed here. After the video went viral, the user himself clarified in the comments that the video has nothing to do with Spain. A screenshot of his comment is as follows as obtained from AFP:

The video seen on Google Maps and the viral video when compared show many common points in the image thereby proving that the places are indeed identical and located in Azerbaijan.

The Religious Freedom Law as guaranteed by the Spanish Constitution provides the citizens of Spain the freedom of religion and the freedom to worship to adherents of different religions in the country, including Muslims.