This video of some very unscientific remarks recently made by Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari, a Muslim cleric from Saudi Arabia, has gone viral. In it, the sheikh rejects the relatively well-established scientific fact that the Earth revolves around the Sun. He believes the opposite is true. The internet disagrees.
The earth is "stationary and does not move," he tells a student in the clip, and cites the words of various clerics and religious statements. The best part of his argument is where he debunks centuries of science with a "logical" deduction illustrated with a visual aid.
“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,” he says, holding a sealed water cup.
If a plane stops midair, he continues, “China would be coming towards it” if the Earth rotated in one direction.
If the Earth rotated in the opposite direction, the plane would never reach China, because “China is also rotating.”
I hope you're paying attention, and so does he.
Separately, Sheikh al-Khaibari has said that human beings have never made it to the moon, rejecting NASA footage of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the lunar surface as Hollywood fabrication. It was ’shopped, he can tell by the pixels.
The video of his remarks has been making the rounds in Arab media, with many other observant Muslims calling this dude out on his epic bullshit. Here's the hashtag.
God, Jesus, and Allah were unavailable for comment.
#داعية_ينفي_دوران_الأرض What a coincidence that this would occur on Galileo's birthday!
— Häyät Al-Ma'arri⚛ (@TheBoominati) February 15, 2015
