A recent comment on my Mecca time post sent me a link to an article entitled “Makka is the center of the earth” by Dr. Salih Muhammad Awadh of the Geology Department in Baghdad University. The article proves once and for all that Catholicgauze’s reasoning skills are well above some Ph.Ds.
The article starts off with a plate tectonics lesson mixed in with Koranic verses. Even here there are problems. Selective counting and grouping of interior layers of the Earth are used to justify a passage that states god created seven earths. Other religious-side issues exist but those are besides the point.
The justification of Mecca is the center of the world can be boiled down to: both the Indian and Arabian plates moved counter-clockwise in their location but the Arabian plate moved less therefore the Arabian plate is the center of the earth. The logic is further obliterated by just claiming Mecca is the center of Arabia because god said so. Not even pseudoscience is involved.
The “Arabian plate is the center” theme can be destroyed in seconds. Both North and South America broke away from the super continent and moved westwards. Does this mean the very western hemisphere is an infidel? Plus, if the Arabian Peninsula moves then it is not located on the pivot point and therefore not he center.
Ugh. There is nothing wrong to see religion in geography. The problem begins when geography is bent and twisted to fit existing biases. The world is a great puzzle with answers that can be found through natural revelation, bending facts only distorts the answers we may find.
Side note: The linked piece was made by a Ph.D. If true then Catholicgauze deserves an honorary Ph.D for producing much more reasonable work and making it available to the populace. Let the blog campaign begin!
4 comments:
While you are correct about the weak argument for Mecca as the center of anything, your arguments are little better. Poorly explained reasoning and complete lack of documentary support hardly suggest one deserves a Ph.D.
Of course your are probably just trying to make a joke. I prefer jokes to be funny.
Then I would suggest Dr. Salih Muhammad Awadh's paper.
I will take time to read the piece on "Koranic geology" before commenting In the meantime, Catholicgauze might be interested in an article I wrote on geology in Goethe's time. You can link to it from this site: http://naturecalendar.wordpress.com/
Go down to April 22, which is headed by a photo of a mackerel cloud formation. At the end, click on to "Goethe scholar" for the article.
When are you going to Iraq?
A PhD doesn't mean that you're smarter, it just means that you're persistent.
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