Photo of KFC in Dearborn Proves Sharia Law Has Come to America-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
A picture supposedly showing a KFC in Dearborn, Michigan, with different lines for men and women proves that Sharia Law has come to America.
The Truth:
The photo in question is real, but it shows a KFC in Saudi Arabia, not Dearborn, and therefore does not prove that Sharia law has come to America.
The misidentified image has been circulating since at least March 2013 when a blog site Do Not Be Assimilated misidentified the photo of a KFC in Saudi Arabia as a photo of a KFC in Dearborn, Michigan. The post was later corrected:
My initial research showed the photo to be of a KFC in Dearborn, Michigan. Apparently I was in error. This is a picture of a KFC in Saudi Arabia. See the comments below the post for the link to the true source of the picture.
Four years later, in June 2017, the rumor resurfaced in the form of a meme that displayed the photo with the statement, “If they tell you Sharia hasn’t come to America, THEY LIE, Welcome to Dearbornistant, USA.”
It’s not clear exactly where the meme started, but it perpetuates the previous false claim that a KFC in Dearborn proves that Sharia has come to America. In reality, a Reuters photographer took the photo on December 13, 2007, and it shows Muslim pilgrims lined up at a KFC outside the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia, according to the photo caption:
Muslim pilgrims line up at a KFC restaurant outside the Grand Mosque in Mecca December 13, 2007. Around 1.5 million Muslims from around the world are expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia for the haj pilgrimage.
Claims about an Islamic takeover of Dearborn, one of the American cities with the highest concentration of Muslims, have become fairly common over the years. Misidentified photos and videos showing Middle Eastern countries, like the KFC in Dearborn photo, are some of the most common hoaxes that we’ve seen. Click here to review all of our investigations involving Dearborn.