What was claimed
In a video, the Mayor of Rotherham says in Arabic that Britain can only be great again by implementing Sharia law, and demands the expulsion of all non-Muslims, including British citizens.
Our verdict
False. Councillor Rukhsana Ismail does not make these comments in the footage being shared. She is actually saying a blessing in Arabic, as part of a longer video message—in which she also speaks in English—about the month of Ramadan.
A video has been widely shared on social media with false claims that it is footage of the Mayor of Rotherham calling for Sharia law and the deportation of non-Muslim UK citizens.
But that’s not what the clip, which has circulated widely on X and Facebook, actually shows.
It features Councillor Rukhsana Ismail, a Labour councillor for the Rotherham East ward, speaking to the camera in her ceremonial role as the Mayor of Rotherham.
In the short clip currently circulating she speaks in Arabic. Text included with some of the posts sharing it says: “Muslim mayor of Rotherham in the UK says that Britain can only be great again by implementing Sharia law, and demands the expulsion of all Non Muslims! Including British Citizens.”
That is not what Councillor Ismail actually says in the video, however.
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We traced the video to a longer version shared on her official councillor Instagram page on 18 February, in which she speaks both Arabic and English.
The original post is captioned “Ramadan Kareem 🌙 Ramadan Mubarak 🌙”. In the first few seconds of the footage when Councillor Ismail is speaking in Arabic, she wishes people a “Ramadan Kareem”, meaning “generous Ramadan”, and delivers a blessing which we have verified using Google Translate. She then switches to English and talks about the meanings of the month of Ramadan, including “reflection, compassion and generosity”.
As another fact checker has also verified, at no point does Councillor Ismail mention Sharia law, or any kind of action against non-Muslims. We also couldn’t find any evidence that she’s made any such comments elsewhere.
For some Muslims in the world, this year’s Ramadan began on 18 February, while it began on 19 February in the UK.
We have contacted Councillor Ismail and Rotherham council about the claims, and will update this article if we receive a response.
Videos are often reshared widely online with misleading captions, so before sharing content like this which you may come across on social media, take a moment to consider whether it comes from a verifiable and trustworthy source, and whether it shows what others say it does. Our Full Fact toolkit can help you do this.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the video does not show the Mayor of Rotherham calling for Sharia law or for non-Muslim British citizens to be deported—she is actually shown issuing a message for Ramadan.
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