On Wednesday, the largest clock in the world began operating. It is mounted 400 meters into the sky on a skyscraper dominating the skyline of the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca. Measuring 43 meters across, it's hoped that the enormous clock will draw additional Muslim pilgrims to visit the city:
Link | Photo: AP
Over 90 million pieces of coloured glass mosaic embellish the sides of the clock, which has four faces each bearing a large inscription of the name "Allah." It is visible from all corners of the city, the state news agency said.
The clock tower is the landmark feature of the seven-tower King Abdulaziz Endowment hotel complex, being built by the private Saudi Binladen Group, which will have the largest floor area of any building in the world when it is complete. Local media have said the clock tower project cost US$3 billion (NZ$4.2 billion).
The clock is positioned on a 601-metre tower, which will become the second tallest inhabited building in the world when it is completed in three months' time.
"Because it based in front of the holy mosque the whole Islamic world will refer to Mecca time instead of Greenwich. The Mecca clock will become a symbol to all Muslims," said Hashim Adnan, a resident of nearby Jeddah who frequently visits Mecca.
Link | Photo: AP
I thought for a second I had typed in the wrong url
And if the whole Islamic world does, good for them. Until Pacific time is introduced as a potential standard, I don't have a horse in this race.
from the telegraph here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/7937123/Giant-Mecca-clock-seeks-to-call-time-on-Greenwich.html
But Islamic scholars hope the clock’s influence will stretch far further than the sands of Saudi Arabia, as part of a plan for Mecca to eclipse the Greenwich Observatory as the “true centre of the earth”.
For the past 125 years, the international community has accepted that the start of each day should be measured from the prime meridian, representing 0 degrees longitude, which passes through the Greenwich Observatory.
A standard time by which other clocks were set was needed to organise global travel and communications, but in the Islamic world the idea that it should be centred on a part of London is seen as a colonial anachronism.
As Mohammed al-Arkubi, manager of one of the hotels in the complex, put it: "Putting Mecca time in the face of Greenwich Mean Time. This is the goal."
According to Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian cleric known around the Muslim world for his popular television show "Sharia and Life", Mecca has a greater claim to being the prime meridian because it is "in perfect alignment with the magnetic north."
This claim that the holy city is a "zero magnetism zone" has won support from some Arab scientists like Abdel-Baset al-Sayyed of the Egyptian National Research Centre who says that there is no magnetic force in Mecca.
"That's why if someone travels to Mecca or lives there, he lives longer, is healthier and is less affected by the earth's gravity," he said. "You get charged with energy."
Western scientists have challenged such assertions, noting that the Magnetic North Pole is in actual fact on a line of longitude that passes through Canada, the United States, Mexico and Antarctica.
"Western scientists have challenged such assertions, noting that the Magnetic North Pole is in actual fact on a line of longitude that passes through Canada, the United States, Mexico and Antarctica."
Not to mention that it's a constantly shifting line.
On the other hand though, it's not delusional for them to aim to have Mecca time as the standard for the whole Islamic world. Makes perfect sense to me, from a religious perspective.
''Arab scientists''. Uh, huh. Right.
What potential pilgrim would think "Well, I *could* go to Mecca for the hajj and thus fulfill one of the basic requirements of my religion, but it's just so dull... oh, giant clock? I'm in!"? I suppose it may draw in more repeat visits however, as well as tourists at other times of the year.
Too bad is WASN'T a cock.