Palestinian Cleric Abu Taqi Al-Din Al-Safafi in Al-Aqsa Mosque Address: Columbus Stole the Manuscripts of Islamic Scholars

In an address delivered at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Palestinian cleric Sheikh Abu Taqi Al-Din Al-Safafi said that Islamic scholars had preceded the West in great scientific achievements and that the 16th-century Ottoman seafarer Piri Reis had drawn a map that "astonished NASA" and had revealed that he had discovered the Americas prior to Columbus. Columbus, according to Sheikh Al-Safafi, had "stolen the manuscripts of the Muslim scholars," . He further said that the West "are nothing but so-called 'thieves'," and that their contribution to science "has no spiritual, humanistic, or moral dimension" but is "utilized only in order to serve their devils - human and jinn - and in order to destroy humanity." A video of his address was posted on the Internet on December 31.

Following are excerpts:

Sheikh Abu Taqi Al-Din Al-Safafi: The first person to draw a precise map of the world was Al-Idrisi. He drew it on a globe, in order to show that the Earth is round. At a time when in the West - still in its Middle Ages - they would kill or imprison anyone who claimed that the Earth is round, the scientists of the Islamic nation were honored by the Caliphs and the Sultans in the Caliphate.

Even more amazing is what the Ottoman seafarer Piri Reis did. He drew a map that astonished NASA. At first, when they found his maps and manuscripts, they said that it contained some mistakes, having compared them with the maps of the geographers of the present century. But after NASA photographed the world via satellites, especially North and South America... It turned out that he was the one who had discovered that continent, and not, as was claimed, that Italian Columbus, who purported to be a scholar, having stolen the manuscripts of the Muslim scholars.

Not only did he draw... [Piri Reis] died in 1513 CE [sic], after - or rather, before... no, sorry, it was after... after Columbus, the Spaniard, was purported to have discovered the two Americas. By the way, Columbus only got to the eastern islands of America, and he did not know about the two Americas. The detailed precision of Piri Reis amazed today's scholars. Furthermore, when NASA took his maps, and enlarged them on a computer in order to check them in detail, they found that he had recorded the aquatic and terrestrial animals, as well as the tribes that lived on those islands at the time. Amazing! Furthermore, he even recorded the South Pole, which is said to have been discovered only a century ago.

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What is the knowledge on which the West prides itself? They are nothing but so-called "thieves." Of course, we do not deny that they made a contribution to science, developed it and utilized it, but it serves only materialistic purposes. There is no spiritual, humanistic, or moral dimension to their science. Their science is utilized only in order to serve their devils - human and jinn - and in order to destroy humanity.