A post is being widely shared on social media claiming that birds and airplanes cannot fly over Kaaba in Mecca. The post even claims that the Kaaba is at the centre of the earth. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Birds and Airplanes cannot fly over Kaaba in Mecca.
Fact: Birds and Airplanes can fly over Kaaba in Mecca. There is a ban on flights over Kaaba due to religious reasons and not any scientific reasons. The ban on flying over Mecca is to not disturb the pilgrims and to respect the holy place. Helicopters do hover around Mecca to monitor the safety of pilgrims. Kaaba is located near the centre of the Grand Mosque in Mecca and is considered a sacred place on earth by Muslims. Earth is an irregularly shaped ellipsoid, and Kaaba is just a point on the circumference of that earth. To claim that Kaaba is at the centre of the Earth is logically incorrect. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Flights over Kaaba in the Saudi city of Mecca are banned for religious reasons and not due to any scientific reasons. According to Anti-Rumours Authority, a media outlet in Saudi Arabia, the ban on flying over Mecca is to not disturb the pilgrims and to respect the holy place.
When we searched online, we found several news reports which say that during an emergency, helicopters hover around Mecca to monitor the safety of pilgrims. A few pictures of Helicopter near Mecca can be seen in those reports.
When a similar claim about flying being banned over the Kaaba because of some ‘magnetic attraction’, AFP had written a fact-check disputing the claim. They reached to an expert named Julien Aubert, who said, “Scientists have not found any magnetic anomalies which are particular to Mecca. Magnetic disturbances do not prevent an airplane from flying.”
We could not find any credible evidence online which say that birds cannot fly over Kaaba in Mecca. We found several visuals on social media which show birds flying over the Kaaba. There is no scientific evidence which can possibly prevent birds from flying over the Kaaba in Mecca.
Kaaba is located near the centre of the Grand Mosque in Mecca and is considered a sacred place on earth by Muslims. Earth is an irregularly shaped ellipsoid, and Kaaba is just a point on the circumference of that earth. To claim that Kaaba is at the centre of the Earth is logically incorrect.
To sum it up, there is a general ban on flights over Kaaba due to religious reasons; Kaaba is not at the centre of the earth.
