Religions have always been the enemies of any science. The religious fanatics are extremely afraid that their previous statements are getting refused scientifically.
Such an experience made the islamic joke figure, who calls himself to be a "theologian" and "law scholar", Bandar al-Khaibari, during Ferbruary 2015. He claimed in a mosque on previously submitted questions as to whether the earth is rotating or standing still: "It stands still" and "Of course, the earth does not revolve around the sun, which already had already ranked higher-ranking Islam scholars".
The preacher is with his view of the world in illustrious society. Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz, long-time top Mufti in Saudi Arabia, also denied that the earth is turning. In 1982, he published a book in which he devoted himself to this thesis.
Three years later he corrected himself. Prince Sultan bin Salman could dissuade him from his error. He had good arguments: Prince Sultan had just been the first Saudi Arabian who has been flying into space on board of a space shuttle.
However, the science and the urge of man to know new areas of knowledge can not be forbidden by anything or anyone.
On August 12, 2008, the Intelligence Consortium Sheikh Saleh bin Fauzan bin Abdul-Lah al-Fauzan wrote on the subject "How is the question of the rotation of the earth to judge the sun properly?" a fatwa (legal opinion) with the number 10348:
This is a matter of Allah who administers the universe. The Koran says the sun is moving while the earth is still. The Koran obviously tells us this. We believe the message of the Koran, not what scientists say.
Even the geologists do not agree. The former geologists said that the earth is rotating around the sun. However, this was refuted by younger geologists.
We believe in the Qur'an and in what the Qur'an says in all its clarity. The words of the scientists are not sacred. The words of the Koran and the Prophet, on the other hand, are holy, true, and eternal.
In his own words "The words of the Koran and of the Prophet are holy, true and eternal," Sheikh al-Fauzan declares the Koran to be a fairy-tale book for uneducated idiots, and both Allah and Mohammed to liars. Intelligence is also not available for a sheikh.
In any case, the question remains open as to which university is supposed to have trained this apparently mentally disturbed man? Which organization has the right to write such a stupidity into a legal opinion? The following note can be found on the website of the Institute for Islamic Studies:
Sheikh al-Fauzan is one of the most prominent contemporary clerics of Sunni Islam. He earned his doctorate in the subject "Islamic Law" at the "Faculty of Islamic Law of Ar Riyad" at the Saudi Arabian University Riyad.
Al-Fauzan has also worked as a lecturer at the Riyad Scientific Institute, as well as at the Faculty of Islamic Law, the Department of Advanced Research at the University of Religious Foundations. He was the chairman of the Supreme Judicial Association and the governors of the [Islamic] Annunciation [Da'wa] among pilgrims. He was preacher and preacher of the mosque of Prince Mut'eb bin Abdul-Aziz al-Sa'ud in al-Mals / Saudi Arabia. At the moment, he is still a member of the Permanent Committee on Legal Advice and Research in Saudi Arabia. He is a book author and has written numerous books on Islamic law [the Shariah], the proclamation of Islam [Da'wa], on legal opinions [Fatwas], the Koran and the tradition [hadith].
The fact that the earth does not move around the sun, but rather stands in space, is also represented by other prominent Muslim scholars. For example, Sheikh Muhammad al-Uthaimeen argues that the Qur'an and the prophets of Islam claim that the sun is moving, which, however, does not say anything unambiguous about the [alleged] movement of the earth.
The Saudi Arabian University in Riyad, the Supreme Judicial Association as well as the Permanent Committee on the Legal Advice and Research of Saudi Arabia should urgently consider whether they should not seek an opinion on the state of mind of Sheikh al-Fauzan. Who still needs enemies if he has such advocates as Sheikh al-Fauzan?