A video said by social media users to show Cristiano Ronaldo studying the Qur'an in Saudi Arabia is a digitally manipulated clip of a UK-based lookalike of the Portuguese soccer star.
The over 50-seconds video, showing the man sitting cross-legged while reading the Muslim Holy book, was shared, opens on X on October 29th 2024 with the caption:
“This video seems to be from Saudi Arabia. Cristiano Ronaldo is studying the Holy Quran. Mashallah”.
Comments in response included: “Mashallah”, which translates from Arabic to “Allah has willed it”, and “He is good person…may he find the right path.”
But the video is a digitally altered version of a clip first uploaded to TikTok in May 2021, showing a man who resembles Ronaldo, but is not the former Manchester United and Real Madrid player himself.
TikTok user Bewar Abdullah, who frequently posts videos to his 1.7 million followers where he is likened to Ronaldo, posted the original video, opens new tab of himself reading the Qur'an on May 27, 2021.
Abdullah has spoken to reporters, opens new tab in the past about people confusing him, opens new tab for his doppelganger.
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from newsmen.
The altered video shared online in September 2024 features visual inconsistencies compared, opens new tab to Abdullah’s original clip, including smoother-looking skin, a closed right eye, visible teeth, and a change to his sideburn.
A sign visible in both the manipulated and original videos also reads: “Al-Judi Centre”, matching, opens new tab an image, opens new tab of a mosque, opens new tab based in Birmingham, the British city in which a 2022 article, opens new tab said Abdullah lived.
Neither Al-Judi mosque nor a representative for Ronaldo responded to a Reuters request for comment.
Reuters has previously claims about Ronaldo, who reached one billion followers on social media in September 2024.
REUTERS.
