A screenshot of a CCTV footage is being widely shared on social media in which a man is seen stabbing another man while he is apparently kneeling in prayer.
The image has a text embedded on it that reads, “A Muslim individual was stabbed to death while in the sujood (prostration) position during prayer.”
A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “In a mosque in India, a Hindu told a Muslim brother, ‘I will become a Muslim, teach me how to pray,’ and pretended to teach him how to pray. As the Muslim boy went to prostrate, he stabbed him 12 times, killing him. And then took a picture of him with his mobile phone while he was making insulting remarks against Islam.”
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The viral image is from 2025 and is of a murder in France.
On a Google reverse image search, we found that a video was shared by a YouTube channel on May 13, 2025. The video was shared with a caption that reads, “Brutal attack in a mosque in France: Man repeatedly stabbed while prostrating in prayer! İleri Newspaper.”
In the video, at around 14 seconds, we can see the same visual as seen in the screenshot, thus suggesting that both the visuals are of the same incident.
We further found that another website, Islam Omroep, also shared the screenshot of the viral video on April 27, 2025.
According to the report, a 24-year-old worshipper was killed in a mosque stabbing in La Grand-Combe on Friday, while the suspect remains at large. French authorities are investigating a possible Islamophobic motive after the attacker reportedly filmed himself making anti-Islam remarks. Surveillance cameras captured the suspect, who was unknown to the mosque community. Locals are raising funds to send victim Aboubakar’s body to his family in Mali.
We found that the video was also shared by another website, Dodori, a Czech website, on April 25, 2025.
According to the report, French prosecutors said the fatal mosque stabbing in La Grand-Combe would not currently be treated as terrorism, describing the suspect’s actions as driven by a personal obsession with killing rather than ideology. The 2004-born suspect, Olivier H, allegedly shared violent fantasies online before the attack, later surrendering in Florence. However, investigators are pursuing aggravated murder charges linked to race or religion, while the victim’s family seeks terrorism charges.
Hence, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false.