A video shared on Facebook purportedly shows the first Islamic call to prayer in Spain in 500 years.

Facebook/Screenshot

Verdict: False

The video was filmed in Azerbaijan. The Islamic call to prayer has been regularly performed in Spain for decades.

Fact Check:

The Islamic call to prayer, referred to as the adhān, is performed five times each day at mosques around the world. A muezzin, the member of a mosque specifically appointed for singing the call to prayer, traditionally performs it from atop a minaret, though not all mosques have such a structure.

The video shows a man in a minaret performing the Muslim call to prayer in the evening, with the caption claiming it is the “first time in 500 years the adhān was publicly called by a human voice in Spain.” (RELATED: FACT CHECK: Has Poland Refused To Allow The Building Of Mosques?)

The mosque in the video is actually located in Balakan, a city in northwestern Azerbaijan. The majority of the country’s population is Muslim. Instagram user Kenan Musaev posted the video in November 2019 and noted in the comments that it “has nothing to do with Spain,” according to AFP Fact Check.

Even if the video had been filmed in Spain, this wouldn’t have been the first time in 500 years that the Muslim call to prayer was performed there. The Grand Mosque of Granada, located in the Spanish city of Granada, posted a video of a call to prayer in July 2017, for instance. Another call to prayer could previously be heard in Granada in 2003, The Guardian reported.

The Spanish constitution has legally protected freedom of religion and worship since its adoption in 1978.