Claim: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – Fazl’s (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman supported the idea of Pakistan potentially recognising Israel, saying that if the government decides to do so, it would be in accordance with the Quran and Sunnah.
Fact: The claim is false as Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s remarks have been shared out of context. In fact, he actually said that no one in Pakistan should even think of recognising Israel.
A video of JUI-F chief’s press conference has been shared online with the caption: “لو جی وہ بیان جو کل دیا تھا کہ اسراٸیل کوتسیلم کسی کا باپ بھی نہں کرسکتا
آج کا بیان حکومت نے اگر تسیلم کیا ھوگا تو ظاھر ھے قران سنت کے مطابق کیا ھوگا حکومت کے خلاف جانا آٸین کو نا ماننا والی بات ھے”
[Translation: Look at the statement that was made yesterday that no one’s father can accept Israel.
Today’s statement: if the government has accepted it, it must obviously be in accordance with the Quran and Sunnah. To go against the government in this matter would mean rejecting the Constitution.]
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check found the claim dubious as the JUI-F chief does not mention Israel at any point even in the clip being fact-checked.
The video begins with a reporter asking two questions, with the first about Pakistan potentially recognising Israel. He says, “It seems the Pakistani government will recognise Israel. If it does, what will be your reaction?” The second question concerns the Council of Islamic Ideology’s decision regarding Engineer Muhammad Ali, an Islamic scholar.
In response, Rehman said, “Look, I’m not a member of the Islamic Ideological Council. And that’s a constitutional forum – it functions in two ways. If the Council takes suo motu notice of an issue, then naturally it doesn’t go to Parliament for debate. Some matters, however, are those that Parliament sends to them, under the 26th Amendment, where previously approval from 40% of the members of the House was required; now approval from 22% of the members is necessary.” He added that, “whatever decision they’ve made, it’s our constitutional forum, and I’m certain they made it while keeping the Quran and Sunnah in view.” This statement was in response to the question about CII’s decision on Engineer Muhammad Ali, and not his response to the former question on Israel.
We then reviewed the complete footage of the press conference available on JUI-F’s official Facebook page. The viral clip was taken from the timestamp 11:09 to 12:01. However, a complete review of the video confirmed that at no point does Maulana Fazlur Rehman say that if the government recognises Israel, it will be in accordance with the Quran and Sunnah.
In fact, at 22:14, he explicitly said that no one in Pakistan should even think about recognising Israel.
Virality
The viral claim was shared here, here, here, and here on Facebook. Archived here, here, here, and here.
On Instagram, it was shared here, here, here, here, and here. Archived here, here, here, here, and here.
On Threads, it was shared here (archive) and here (archive).
Conclusion: The claim is false. Maulana Fazlur Rehman did not say that if Pakistan decides to recognise Israel, it would be in accordance with the Quran and Sunnah.
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Background image in cover photo: Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Pakistan