PRNigeria Fact-Check: Cockroaches Didn’t Invade Mecca Mosque, Prophet Muhammad’s Grave

PRNigeria Fact-Check: Cockroaches Didn’t Invade Mecca Mosque, Prophet Muhammad’s Grave

The claim that cockroaches recently invaded the Muslim praying ground at the Holy Mosque in Mecca, and encroached on the grave of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) after a heavy downpour is MISLEADING, with many FALSE narratives.

This was the conclusion of a PRNigeria fact-check titled, “Did Cockroaches Invade Grave of Prophet Muhammad and Muslim Praying Ground in Mecca?”

According to a claim on social media platforms especially Blogs, Tik Tok, Whatsapp, Twitter and Facebook, cockroaches invaded the Islamic praying ground and encroached on the grave of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) after a heavy downpour in Mecca.

But PRNigeria scanned the image of the insect being referred to as a swarm of cockroaches in the Holy Mosque, based on the feature of the images seen. The insects were actually crickets and not cockroaches as reported.

Though crickets and cockroaches look relatively similar and around the same size with varying shades of brown and black, according to sciencing, they have several distinct characteristics that can be used to distinguish between them, especially their body shape and general anatomy.

Cockroaches have a flattened, oval body shape that is low to the ground. Crickets, on the other hand, have an elongated body shape that looks more cylindrical.

Though researchers consider both ‘true insects’ and place them in the class Insecta, that’s where the relation between the two ends.

Based on the distinguishing physical features, PRNigeria establishes that the insects seen in the claim being circulated are crickets, not cockroaches. It, therefore, ran an online search to ascertain the veracity of the claim of encroachment by ‘crickets’, however, results showed no evidence that there was such a recent happening in the Holy City of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. There was no online news and there was no reference to authentic sources that such an event occurred recently in the Holy City.

However, findings from further investigations reveal that an incident occurred four years ago, precisely in January 2019 when swarms of black crickets were seen in Masjid al-Haram following a heavy downpour. This was in 2019, not 2023.

The Saudi Government solved the problem by spraying aerosol inside the mosque, its surroundings as well as some certain areas of the city. This was executed by a team of 22 comprising 130 individuals who used 111 aerosol diffusers.

In a statement on Twitter at the time, the Mecca municipality said that over 130 members had been mobilised to exterminate the insects.

Further finding by PRNigeria revealed that the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)’s grave is not in Mecca as claimed by the post but the Holy Prophet (SAW)’s tomb and grave is located inside Masjid al-Nabawi in Madinah, Saudi Arabia.

Facts gathered by PRNigeria revealed that there was no encroachment of the Holy Mosque in Mecca by cockroaches in 2023. Nevertheless, there was an incident of crickets swarming the city of Mecca in January 2019 which was four months away from Ramadan period that was observed in May that year. Similarly, the grave of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is not located in Mecca as claimed in the viral video but in Medinah.

By PRNigeria