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 Al-Khaibari’s defense of the Ptolemaic system would seem a few hundred years out of date but he appears to view geocentrism as commanded by Allah.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.
All snark aside, we may soon see in the ISIL controlled regions, a situation where science is dictated by religion, not by reason. It will be interesting to see how ISIL reconciles religion to technology. If your car doesn’t work, start praying?
I think he may be onto something.
Can Earth spin on its axis a bit faster than 1000mph (at the equator) and zoom through space orbiting the sun at an average speed of about 67,000mph, and still believe our eyes when we see a Wallenda walk a tightrope over the Grand Canyon or watch this guy do this:
Not to far off, actual path is that of a helical vortex. the earth forever being drug down to the center of, following the vortex pattern left by the sun as it moves through space. Can be said the earth does not move, that it is space that moves – for example – holding up a pencil before you, the space the pencil occupies is consentingly changing, is moving, the information of where it will be, minus the information of where it was leaves the pencils current position.
The helical vortex model show why no planet holds an ‘orbit’ perpendicular to existing orbits – no ‘orbit’ can lead the focal point of the vortex . . Like the vortex in the toilet, no object can lead the flush . .
Monte thank you for sharing that unique centering exercise
Here’s an interesting article about some Muslim scientists:
http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jul/science-and-islam
Some excerpts:
““Their methodology is bad,” he says. Soltan explains that Islamic scientists start with a conclusion (the Koran says the body has 360 joints) and then work toward proving that conclusion. To reach the necessary answer they will, in this instance, count things that some orthopedists might not call a joint. “They’re sure about everything, about how the universe was created, who created it, and they just need to control nature rather than interpret it,” Soltan adds. “But the driving force behind any scientific pursuit is that the truth is still out there.””
“Badawy, who specialized in solar energy conversion while working for Siemens in Germany in the 1980s, does not consider himself an “Islamic scientist” like El-Naggar. He is a scientist who happens to be devout, one who sees science and religion as discrete pursuits.”
“[Senator Adnan Badran] blames a tradition that began with the Ottomans in the 1500s: lowering educational standards and promoting dogma. “We were open. Islam was open, a strong belief with dialogue. It was tolerant, mixing with other civilizations. Then we shifted to being dogmatic. Once you’re dogmatic, you are boxed in,” he says. “If you step outside the box, you’re marginalized—and then you’re out. So you go west.”
Tjustice,
I think Noam Chomsky is an interesting guy. Don’t always agree with him, but a thought-provoking person nonetheless. I’m either left of center or right of center, depending upon whom you ask. 🙂
Alyssa
We just thank Leo Strauss for our Neocons and the People of the Lie basically.
Saw some comments about OK, have never been there, but I find it amazing that people who consider themselves to be so smart, and others as so “birthers” , are themselves so incapable of recognizing the most primitive behaviors coming out from important positions of the current administration. Just proves the saying , greater the ignorance, greater is the conceit. Greater the cluelessness, greater is the need to lecture others and engaged in forced gestures to fake confidence.
I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down, tumbling down
I feel my heart start to trembling
Whenever you’re around
Ooh, baby, when I see your face
Mellow as the month of May
Oh, darling, I can’t stand it
When you look at me that way
I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down, tumbling down
I feel my heart start to trembling
Whenever you’re around
Oh, darling, when you’re near me
And you tenderly call my name
I know that my emotions
Are something I just can’t tame
I’ve just got to have you, baby
I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down, tumbling down
I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down
I just lose control
Down to my very soul
I get a hot and cold all over
I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down,
Tumbling down, tumbling down…
I only buy gas from North Dakota shale .
Just think about it….every time you go fill up your car with gas, you are putting money in this guy’s pocket.
“Earth Does Not Move And Sits At Center Of The Universe”
The Earth sure sounds like a fat lazy narcissist.
I think it needs to get up off its big behind and help out a bit around the universe.
I mean, look at the Sun, always shining and giving heat an such.
It wouldn’t kill the Earth to clean up around the Moon once in awhile.
Would this blog consider Noam Chomsky a “wing nut”?
TJustice – I, personally, would consider Noam Chomsky a wing nut, if that makes you feel any better. 😉
It’s a wonder how he can claim to have learned these teachings by following the same religion followed by the Moors, who excelled in astronomy, invented the astrolabe, and helped science advance tremendously in Spain a thousand years ago. That is the problem with strict fundamentalism in any religion.
I hope NASA is not relying on Muslim scholars like this…
Because if they are…Houston we might have a problem.
Paul:
“…There is something about the flag.” Reality: there’s nothing about the flag.
Dave – Mythbusters have been wrong before. Until they try it on the moon I am not buying it. 😉
I hear that Islam and hallucinogens go hand in hand, sometimes.
Life is like a beanstalk, isn’t it?
PH
Hey to be fair to them, the goats are such a distraction!
Guess Al-Khaibari wasn’t a star trek fan. Absolutely fascinating.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/02/18/norwegian-muslims-will-form-a-human-shield-around-an-oslo-synagogue/?tid=hpModule_04941f10-8a79-11e2-98d9-3012c1cd8d1e&hpid=z10
What a wonderful thing to do. Maybe it will start something good.
Pretty much 7th century thinking, like the rest of Islam.