Mecca Time

You just can't make this kind of stuff up.

An Islamic conference held in Qatar last Saturday wants the world to change the reference point of world time from Greenwich in England (GMT) to Mecca in Saudi Arabia because Islamic scholars have "scientific evidence" that Mecca is the "true centre of the Earth".

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

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=214103&version=1

I wondered to myself "who would be this crazy?", until I was directed to this video of an Egyptian TV program featuring Islamic "scientist" Dr Abd Al-Baset Al-Sayyed on why Greenwich Mean Time must be abolished and replaced with Mecca time:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_N7t19hfeSE

So what is the difference between setting the reference point in Greenwich and in Mecca? Well, for one, anyone can visit Greenwich - whether you are Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, freethinker etc. Greenwich is open to one and all. However, Mecca is completely out-of-bounds to anyone who is not a Muslim. That is, 80% of the world's population are not allowed in Mecca simply because they do not follow Islam.

These people are plain deluded in thinking they can ask the world to make one of the most restricted places on Earth to be a global reference point for everyone.

In the same news article, it was mentioned that a "Mecca Watch" was also introduced at the conference in which the hands move anti-clockwise, the same direction that worshippers move when they circle the Kabaa. Let's see, Mecca as the centre of the world, a clock that runs backwards. I think I see where this is going...

FITNA - The Controversial Anti-Islam Movie

You may have read about the huge hoo-hah around the world about Geert Wilders controversial 15 minute anti-Islam movie. It has been criticised in the Straits Times in articles printed yesterday and today for being polemic and being sheer propaganda. Muslim nations every where have decried the movie, saying it insults Islam and that what it depicts is not "true" or "mainstream" Islam. Indonesia wants Google to eliminate the movie from its servers, effectively asking Google to censor the video, and thus countering one of the tenets of Western civilisation: freedom of speech.

I have watched the movie, and agree that it is indeed highly polemical and extreme. But the irony of it is that many fundamentalist Islam videos - those constantly put out by Al Qaeda and the Taleban sympathisers - is structured in the same way. But the Al Qaeda videos are not condemned by the Muslim nations universally, or as vehemently, as against Wilders' film. In fact, Geert Wilders has used video footage from many of these fundamentalist Muslim videos in his film. Many portions of Wilders' film is comprised of footage from news reels and Muslim terrorists videos, juxtaposed with Quran sayings, just like the terrorists' videos!

The Muslim nations keep making the call that Islam is a "religion of peace". Unfortunately, since the 9/11 US attack, 2002 Bali bombings, 2004 Madrid bombings, or the London 7/7 bombings, Islam has constantly demonstrated that it is anything but because all the perpetrators have been Muslim. The Muslim nations say that the terrorists are not "true" Muslims. But then, why do the news videos always show captured terrorists, as they are being hauled away, always screaming into the camera that they are unrepentant for their actions, and they are doing it all "for Allah" and "in the name of Islam"?

If Islam is a "religion of peace", why is Islam breeding such destructive elements? Why can't mainstream Islam halt the growth of the radicals?

Or, could it be that the mainstreamers could not criticise the radical Muslims' actions because what the radicals are practising is indeed condone by the Quran?

This is the stance of Geert Wilders controversial film.

Personally, I think Geert Wilders film won't have much of an impact in reducing radical Islamism. Radical Islam must be reformed from within by Muslims themselves.

However, as the Muslim nations want to ban the movie from the Internet, and they might succeed in doing so, you might want to take a look at it before it gets pulled down. Do watch it knowing that Geert Wilders is also an extremist, and that his video has been made in exactly the same extremist style that radical Muslims make in their own videos. Please be warned that there are extremely violent images in the film (I was particularly disturbed by the beheading scene):

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3369102968312745410

P.S. I just learnt that the trial has just started yesterday for the 8 Muslims arrested in August 2006 for planning to bomb 7 commercial passenger planes in mid-flight. These were the terrorists who initiated the worldwide ban of carrying liquids, creams, gels etc into planes. As the BBC news report indicated, the 8 Muslims were going to blow themselves and the planes up "in the name of Islam":

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7328892.stm