New Mecca clock threatens to call time on Greenwich

London, Aug 11 (ANI): The Greenwich Mean Time is the centre of world time and the official starting point of each new day, but that could change soon.

A gargantuan new clock being built in Mecca might put the GMT out of business as 1.5 billion Muslims prepare to set their time to the new clock.

It sits atop the Royal Mecca Clock Tower, which dominates Islam's holiest city and resembles St Stephen's Tower and the Empire State Building.

The clock will run on Arabia Standard Time, which is three hours ahead of GMT.

According to The Telegraph, the clock's four faces will be illuminated by 2million LED lights along with huge Arabic script reading, "In the name of Allah".

And when finished, it will be 2,000 ft tall, humongous compared to 316ft talk Big Ben.

Residents of Mecca will also be reminded that it is time to pray when 21,000 green and white lights, visible at a distance of 18 miles, flash five times a day.

The idea is to outdo its British rival in every way, because in the Islamic world the idea that GMT should be centred on a part of London is seen as a colonial anachronism.

"Putting Mecca time in the face of Greenwich Mean Time. This is the goal," said Mohammed al-Arkubi, manager of one of the hotels in the complex.

Another 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.

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. (ANI)