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...