Muslim call to adopt Mecca time

[BigDaddy44]

"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.

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."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7359258.stm



Well, since under our current President its arranged that we ship all of our money to the middle east in exchange for oil, it really IS becoming the center of the earth

[Hestia]

1. Who forced the time zones on the world is the Railroads - they had to have an efficient

way to schedule routes. I think (could be wrong here) that the time zone was for the establishment of Longitude, not that it was the exact center of the earth. That being the case, Mecca don't count either, Egypt goes a lot longer on that count. Every tribe and culture has it's own "axis mundi", Mecca can be their axis and we have our own; Russia has their's, etc. Oh btw - what time is Mecca time on?

[BadgerKid]

4. Mecca: GMT +3

http://www.worldtimezone.com/

[Warpy]

2. True alignment to magnetic north?

Uh, magnetic north tends to wander around a lot. In addition, we're reasonably close (within 400 or fewer years) of one of the periodic pole shifts this planet goes through.

Also, why are they bent out of shape about the arbitrary GMT, wanting to replace it with MMT? You'd think their eyes would be on the real prize, the International Date Line.

I love watching clerics. They're an endless source of hilarity.

[DRoseDARs]

6. No kidding. These "scientists" seem to be a very uneducated lot. Hope the Meccans like moving...

...6 to 25 miles A YEAR.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. I'd think you'd have the closest and most reliable 'true north = magnetic north'

on that rough line of longitude, and about a quarter of the way round the world - which would be the Galapagos on one side, and Sri Lanka on the other.

[Johonny]

11. two points

gets you a line every time:)

[mainegreen]

3. Grammar error in article, should read : Muslim "scientists".

Note the quotes distinguish between real scientists, and crazy half baked religious authorities masquerading as scientists.

[L. Coyote]

5. Actually, scientists would not agree with this. The best place ia a permanent

location that will not shift with the pole.
Secular polar motion alters the pole in one direction.
This way, in 10,000 years, it won't be messed up.

And, guess where that longitude is. Pretty close to Mecca!

[0rganism]

7. So what difference does it make if they want to use MMT instead of GMT?

As long as the offsets are shifted to compensate for the longitudinal change, it ought to be transparent to users. If GMT-8 translates into MMT-13 or whatever, who cares? For that matter, maybe the Catholics would like to use Vatican Mean Time, and Jews could go to Jerusalem Mean Time, and so on. As long as we can agree on what time it is from place to place, it's a perfectly harmless extravagance, and maybe it'll help people feel better about their place in the world.

Right?

[Seeking Serenity]

8. Except I fear that that won't be enough for them.

If the rest of the world says, "Fine, use Mecca Mean Time if you want to," I'm concerned that they'll then begin to insist that everyone does.

This just seems to have more of a religious tenor to it than a purely scientific one, IMO.

For instance, from the article:

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.

[0rganism]

9. seems pretty much like the creationism movement here in the USA

It's pretty amazing to read articles by otherwise intelligent people with advanced degrees offering extended apologetics for "hydrological sorting" as a way to reconcile fossil layering with biblical myths, or proposing an exponentially decaying speed-of-light-in-vacuum to account for the Hubble limit in a 6000-year-old universe. To be sure, some of the YECs have had success in eroding standards of inquiry across the bible belt, but that's due to an already-sympathetic local population controlling school boards and legislatures.

Overall, I don't think a Koranic science movement would change things much. In mostly-secular countries or those with non-Islamic religious governments, they'll be written off as fanatical kooks per usual. In countries following Islamic law where such ideas might be taken seriously, "unearthing and publishing textual evidence of the miraculous nature of the Quran" is probably one of the least-damaging things they can be doing with their time. :shrug:

[Seeking Serenity]

10. Yes, but given how much value some Muslims place on Islamic honor and primacy,

I just fear that this could lead to yet another excuse for them to want to attack (figuratively, if not literally) those non-complying nations.