By Emmanuel Oluwadola
Claim: A viral video shared by Instablog9ja and several online sources allegedly shows a man harassing a woman on a London bus for eating while he was fasting during the 2025 Ramadan.
Full Text
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by Muslims worldwide as a period of fasting from dawn to sunset each day.
The dates of Ramadan vary annually due to the lunar cycles of the Islamic calendar. The start of the month-long fast, which lasts for 29 or 30 days, is determined by the sighting of the crescent moon and official announcements from local Islamic authorities.
For physically and mentally able Muslim adults, fasting during Ramadan involves abstaining from food, drinks, and sexual relations. It is a time dedicated to increased worship, prayer, Quran recitation, religious devotion, spiritual reflection, self-discipline, and charitable giving to those in need.
The 2025 Ramadan (1446 AH) began on March 1, marking the commencement of fasting for Muslims worldwide.
Meanwhile, on March 2, 2025, Instablog9ja posted a video on X with the caption, “Man harasses a woman on a London bus for eating her lunch because he is ‘fasting’ during Ramadan.”(sic)
As of March 3, 2025, the shared footage has 450k views, 5,311 likes, 738 reposts, 179 quotes and 525 bookmarks.
Screenshot of the video posted on X by Instablog9ja
Some X users believed the video was scripted. For instance, @_patrioticCFC commented, “You can believe anything you want to believe, but shame on you if you don’t know this is scripted”(sic).
On the contrary, @seanelhadji remarked, “For all those saying it’s scripted, Hisbah police in Northern Nigeria does worse during Ramadan. Some Northern State governments are presently closing down schools just for Ramadan! Is that scripted too? In 2025???”(sic)
The video also generated opposing comments about the Islamic religion. @Faithysia_blunt commented that “People like him (the man speaking in the video) are the reason why it’s arguable that Islam is not a religion of peace. Too imposing and entitled. The world should stop cause you fighting”(sic).
The 59-second video has also been shared on Facebook here, here, here, here and here.
Given the virality and suspicion around the video, we conducted this fact-check.
Verification
A keyword search on Facebook revealed that the video originally went viral during the 2024 Ramadan fasting. We traced the exact footage to multiple accounts here, here, here and here.
Similarly, an analysis of X posts also showed that several accounts shared the video as early as March 2024. Such posts can be found here, here, here and here.
Further examination indicates that the older version of the footage is clearer and longer than the recent one shared by Instablog9ja and other social media accounts. The lower visual quality of the recirculated video suggests it was compressed or re-edited before being reshared with misleading context.
Additionally, an X user, @maryam_jidayi, discredited the claim, stating that “the same video goes viral every Ramadan.”
Screenshot of MAJ’s post on X.
Conclusion
The viral video is not recent and is unrelated to the 2025 Ramadan. It is an old video that previously circulated during the 2024 Ramadan and has been recirculated with misleading context.
