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Rumor claims the Islamic State (ISIS) banned pigeons because the visibility of their genitals as they fly overhead "offends Islam." CLAIM: ISIS has banned pigeons because their
visible genitals in flight "offends Islam." EXAMPLE: _[Collected via e-mail, June 2015]_ > I'm seeing reports that ISIS clerics have banned pigeon > breeding because
the sight of pigeon genitals is offensive to > Muslim sensibilities. Since pigeon genitalia is something I've > never in my 60+ yrs seen I doubt the truth of this story. ORIGINS:
On 2 June 2015, the British _Daily Mail_ newspaper published an article titled "ISIS bans pigeon breeding — punishable by public flogging — because seeing birds' genitals
overhead offends Islam." In short order, the newspaper's claim was widely aggregated to other outlets, with its multiple iterations lending it an air of credibility: > When
rumours of an ISIS ban on pigeons began to circulate earlier > this year, it was widely assumed that it was related to the birds > being used to either smuggle anti-ISIS messages or
cigarettes. > However the new document clears up that misunderstanding, clearly > stating that the ban is intended 'to put a stop to the greater > criminal act of harming
one's Muslim and Muslim women neighbours, > revealing the [pigeon's] genitals and wasting time.' On 5 June 2015, the claim received additional attention when HBO host Bill
Maher discussed it at length during a segment of his show _Real Time with Bill Maher_. Maher pointed to ISIS's purported pigeon genitalia ban as an example of how Islam's core
ideology was incongruent with that of the Western world (the embedded clip below contains some profanity): [embedded content] However, all roads (in this instance) led back to one source:
the _Daily Mail_ article; and that article provided no source for its claim, other than a single document in Arabic described as containing the bizarre directive. A reverse image search
revealed that the document depicted in the _Daily Mail_'s article was first published on the web site of Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, a British researcher and archivist who specializes in
Islamic State-related news and developments. The document was part of a larger set of documents displayed the site, "Archive of Islamic State Administrative Documents." The _Daily
Mail_'s photo was identical (but not credited) to Al-Tamimi's image, and much of the English translation also matched. Al-Tamimi's original translation of the depicted
document read: > ISLAMIC STATE CALIPHATE ON THE PROGRAM OF PROPHETHOOD WILAYAT > AL-FURAT DIWAN AL-HISBAH > DATE: 20 RABI AL-THANI 1436 AH/9 FEBRUARY 2015 > > ANNOUNCEMENT
> > PROHIBITION ON PIGEON-KEEPING ABOVE THE ROOFS OF HOUSES > > Praise be to God and prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of God, > his family, companions and whosoever
is close to/loyal to him. As > for what follows: > > All those who keep pigeons above the roofs of their houses must stop > doing this entirely within a week of the date of the
issuing of this > statement and whosoever violates it will be subject to consequences > of reprimand including a financial fine, imprisonment and flogging. > > So the Muslim
populace must inform the Hisbah of any person who has > taken it upon himself to continue this line of work and that is to > put a stop to the greater criminal act of harming
one's Muslim and > Muslim women neighbours, revealing the genitals and wasting time. > > And God is the guarantor of success. > > ISLAMIC STATE WILAYAT AL-FURAT AMIR
AL-HISBAH > > DIWAN AL-HISBAH FOR WILAYAT AL-FURAT. On 3 June 2015, Al-Tamimi's entry for that document was updated in response to widespread news reports claiming ISIS banned
pigeons' genitals. The addendum noted that the assertion made no sense (as pigeons' genitals are not overtly notable relative to any other creature) and provided a more accurate
translation: > _NB (Update: June 3, 2015): I have glossed the phrase kashf > lil-awrat ("revealing the genitals") because a number of subsequent > media reports have
misinterpreted this phrase literally. I had > assumed that it would be taken as a mere idiom for dishonourable > activity, but instead outlets such as The Daily Mail have >
interpreted this to mean revealing the pigeon's genitals (which > wouldn't make any sense). My friend Hassan Hassan gives the best > corrective in comments below:_ >
_"_HAMAMCHIYA/HMAIMATIYA (PIGEON KEEPERS) ARE NOTORIOUS FOR USING > PIGEON-KEEPING ON ROOFS TO STARE & LOOK INSIDE NEIGHBOURS HOMES > (HENCE 'HURUMAT', HONOUR, NOT
GENITALS). THAT'S ALSO WHY THEY > TRADITIONALLY DON'T QUALIFY FOR BEARING TESTIMONY ETC" So while Al-Tamimi's translation originally included idiomatic wording about
ISIS and a pigeon ban (that many took to mean Islamic State had decreed pigeons' genitals offensive to Islam), Al-Tamimi later clarified that it was never meant to be literally
interpreted in that fashion. Irrespective of the swift clarification, the claim that ISIS had banned pigeons because their visible genitals offend Islam continued to circulate across news
sites worldwide.