We have previously discussed the sometimes curious notion of an intellectual in Saudi Arabia. The fact is that I have met many brilliant Saudi academics and that fact is that every country has their wing nuts. However, Saudi has had a litany of these respected clerics or academics spouting nonsense. The latest is Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari who corrected a student and told him that it is a myth that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Al-Khaibari’s defense of the Ptolemaic system would seem a few hundred years out of date but he appears to view geocentrism as commanded by Allah.
Al-Khaibari insisted that the Earth is “stationary and does not move.” He insisted that the “rotation theory” can be disproved by a simple “logical” deduction by what you can see. He used a water cup to show how virtually every scientist for the last 400 yeas has been wrong. It turns out that his water cup is far better than that silly the telescope used by Galileo in 1609. He states by saying “First of all, where are we now? we go to Sharjah airport to travel to China by plane, clear?! focus with me, this is Earth;.” You can focus with him below. However, his theory is that if a plane stops still in air “China would be coming towards it” in case the Earth rotates on one direction. It the Earth rotates on opposite direction, the plane would never reach China, because “China is also rotating.”
By the way, al-Khaibari also insists that man has never gone to the moon and that the landing was a Hollywood stunt.
It is just a shame that it took so long to debunk those guys Copernicus and Galileo. Of course, they did not have his water cup.
Hay, we have guys like that too…..Oh wait a second thats not good is it?
Inga (Annie)> …here’s another “don’t faint” caution. Your comment at 12:09 on 20 February is one I whole heartedly agree with…it is what I’d expect in my own community.
You said: What a wonderful thing [Norwegian Muslims acting to protect a Synagogue] to do. Maybe it will start something good.
Found it when I was re-reading the entire thread. Sorry I missed it earlier….better late than never, I guess.
PS: [minutia] I don’t know where or how you came up with the “nick” of “Annie”, however your should know that there is another blogger and commenter who used (and still does on one site) that “nick” for years (well pre-dating your use of Allie Oop…to give it time reference), and now operates only under the name “Anne”…her real name, on her blog and when she posts anywhere but the original place she was “Annie” as a commenter and occasional guest poster. She’s an Israeli I know whom I respect deeply and whose remarks are always fair and even handed. Your comment I cite here fits “Anne” to a tee.
PPSS: And, yes, it just may lead to something good, as anyone who listened to Egypt’s Defense Minister speak on both Al Jezeera and Fox (go figure, right?). Not asking for troops, just moral, logistical, and ordnance support….saying they(meaning Egypt and a few others) can provide the soldiers in their fight (and already are doing so) with ISIS. This is what we’ve officially been asking for is it not? Now that the rubber is on the road, so to speak, let’s see if our administration manages to modify our sanctions and embargo of those nations he cites. It could mean a lot to all the soldiers and Marines I know, including, knowing of her only virtually, your daughter, the Corpsman medic to the USMC.
Jay S
All snark aside, we may soon see in the
ISILRepublican controlled regions, a situation where science is dictated by religion, not by reason.… Fixed it for ya! LOL 😛
Groty
Rock stacking is so much fun! I’ve known many people who stack rocks and we’re more of the tree hugger types… Myself, I prefer round docks. Try four or five round rocks stacked. It’s tough, but I’ve done it. My usual height is three or five. I like to populate my garden with them in odd places, like gnomes (which I also have). Birds love the perches for spotting bugs and such…
Sandi,
There are a few out there apparently:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/04/08/300609595/why-physicists-are-in-a-film-promoting-an-earth-centered-universe
Google geocentrism or fixed earth.
Believing the earth is the center of the universe and being a good person are two different things. 🙂 Most Fundamentalists probably do not believe geocentrism, though they may believe in a ‘young earth’.
I’m sure they’re out there. But the earth is round. It does circle around the sun. Those are provable facts. Someone who tries to prove otherwise is nuts. He probably comes from rich and powerful family and no one challenges them.
Give me a quote of any Fundamentalist saying the earth is the center of the universe. I know a few Fundamentalists. I asked about these things. Is the world flat, etc., and was told they accepted the science. They’ve been in airplanes, have seen pictures from the moon. They do not deny any of that. From what I see they are good people. Their children are good kids that go to school every day. Their houses are kept up as the rules in our association require. That is not true for many others. There is no conflict at all. I wish more of them would move here. They do a great deal of help in the community
The rock balancing? My husband does this in our yard. Some fall in a wind. But a lot stay in place. He is not a professional rock balancer.
He certainly dresses fancy. Who does he lecture to? What is Allah’s position
on this? Hadn’t the truth of the earth around the sun been settled before Muhammad’s time? Let’s put him on the next flight to space so he can see for himself.
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2011/09/remembering-muslim-colonialism-on.html
Anyone who cared to dig through the graveyards of Sudan already knew that Muslims mattered more than Africans to us. The sky full of jets that we dispatched to bomb Yugoslavia on behalf of Muslim terrorists never clouded the skies of Khartoum. But they did show up to bomb Tripoli so that Islamist thugs could begin torturing and murdering Africans.
In the left’s pyramid of races, some matter more than others, and Arabs are higher than Africans. So much higher that Sudan is piled with corpses, but the mere thought of Islamist rebels losing in Libya was enough to send in the air forces of bankrupt Western countries already tied up in too many places.
This yahoo has no clue he is arguing the Ptolemaic view of the universe. You’re giving him far too much intellectual credit by suggesting familiarity with anything other than Islam’s unreadable and seemingly interminable holy book, and the far better early “commentary”.
Readers that equate the Oklahoman’s objection to A.P. History with the Arab genius are way off base. There are legitimate concerns about the AP History curriculum. But these are concerns about interpretation, not facts. For example, disputing interpretations that suggest slavery was not the cause of the Civil War. The Arab, on the other hand, would be disputing the Civil War ever occurred.
This is why they should allow women to be educated–to correct these numb skull men, who try to hold back time.
Does this man not see a change of seasons? Oh yeah, they have only one season, known as–crappy.