Replace GMT with Mecca time: Muslim scientists

Mecca is the direction all Muslims face when they perform their prayers. A geologist at the conference argued that unlike other longitudes, Mecca’s was in perfect alignment to the magnetic north.

The geologist 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 this changed.

Prominent cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawy said modern science had provided evidence that Mecca was the true centre of the earth.

This was also 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 supposed to help Muslims determine the direction of Mecca from any point on the globe.

The meeting in Qatar is part of a popular trend in some Muslim societies of seeking to find Quranic 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 revealed in the Muslim holy book, and it is the work of scholars to unearth and publicise the textual evidence.