Stop! It's Mecca time.

[Zebra 10]

It hit the news that some are hoping to change GMT in line with the 'true centre of the Earth', Saudi Arabia.

Personally I'm happy with what we've got and I don't fancy that kind of change in line with a religion I disagree with.

 

Muslim scientists and clerics have called for the adoption of Mecca time to replace GMT, arguing that the Saudi city is the true centre of the Earth.

 

Mecca is the direction all Muslims face when they perform their daily prayers.

 

The call was issued at a conference held in the Gulf state of Qatar under the title: Mecca, the Centre of the Earth, Theory and Practice.

 

One geologist argued that unlike other longitudes, Mecca's was in perfect alignment to magnetic north.

 

He said the English had imposed GMT on the rest of the world by force when Britain was a big colonial power, and it was about time that changed.

 

Mecca watch

 

A prominent cleric, Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawy, said modern science had at last provided evidence that Mecca was the true centre of the Earth; proof, he said, of the greatness of the Muslim "qibla" - the Arabic word for the direction Muslims turn to when they pray.

 

The meeting also reviewed what has been described as a Mecca watch, the brainchild of a French Muslim.

 

The watch is said to rotate anti-clockwise and is supposed to help Muslims determine the direction of Mecca from any point on Earth.

 

The meeting in Qatar is part of a popular trend in some Muslim societies of seeking to find Koranic precedents for modern science.

 

It is called "Ijaz al-Koran", which roughly translates as the "miraculous nature of the holy text".

 

The underlying belief is that scientific truths were also revealed in the Muslim holy book, and it is the work of scholars to unearth and publicise the textual evidence.

 

But the movement is not without its critics, who say that the notion that modern science was revealed in the Koran confuses spiritual truth, which is constant, and empirical truth, which depends on the state of science at any given point in time.

 

Here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7359258.stm

[fox20thc 10]

It's never going to happen.

[bizzle 10]

Ohhhhhhhh I cant wait for it happen. All things Muslims are the rage these days........

[KJ_VENOM 10]

How stupid can it get? :loopy:

[quicken 10]

i was thinking about something like this the other day whiles watching a film when it said something about 200bc i wondered what Muslims think about that or any other religion as far as that goes

[Alastair 12]

This reminds me of another story.

 

After the Islamic revolution the Iranian Air Force inherited some advanced jet fighters from the Shah's regime (F16's?). These had some state of the art navigation systems.

 

Because the Koran insists that the earth is flat the navigation consoles in these jet fighters had to display a special warning -

 

"For the purposes of navigation it is allowed to assume the Earth is round"

[Squiggs 11]

SO...with this new "Mecca Time"..

 

At noon we are going to have to get rid of our traditional cuckoos and buy clocks with a little old dear that comes out and shouts "House!"

 

Or have I got it wrong?

[bizzle 10]

Another bashing for muslims (yawwwwwwwwwwn) again.

[chem1st 10]

As a near central point of the biggest continent ( Eurasia) I would consider a shift in the time for economical purposes, although i believe there are more suitable locations.

[Heyesey 11]

One geologist argued that unlike other longitudes, Mecca's was in perfect alignment to magnetic north.

 

He's a lousy geologist. Magnetic North moves about; any longitude which points directly to it now, won't do in a century or so.

 

He said the English had imposed GMT on the rest of the world by force when Britain was a big colonial power, and it was about time that changed.

 

He's a lousy historian as well; Greenwich was adopted as the central longitude because the whole system was devised by the English to begin with, and they deserve their place of honour. If it had come down to force, no way in hell would the rest of Europe have ever acceded.

[Pingpang 10]

isn't it midday when the sun is at the highest point?

 

what's that got to do with mecca?

[chem1st 10]

Pray pray baby, is this sum mc thread lol