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I recently found this video, which purports to show the Muslim cleric Bandar al-Khaibari denying heliocentrism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9Jp_XCvVto

I am skeptical that the person depicted in the video is actually displaying such an egregious degree of ignorance of physics, and find it more likely that the video was either mistranslated or taken out of context. There were a number of sources covering the issue, but all of them seemed to depend on that one single translation.

Is the translation of this video valid, given the context in which the cleric was speaking?

March Ho
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    I have been taught how to speak and write arabic since I was 6. I can confirm that the translation is fully valid and not taken out of context. – George Chalhoub May 12 '15 at 22:11
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    Another indictation that it is valid, all arabs launched a hashtag called [#داعية_ينفي_دوران_الأرض](https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%A9_%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%81%D9%8A_%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%B6?src=hash) to express their hate and disapproval of the incident. – George Chalhoub May 12 '15 at 22:15
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    Allegedly the same is/was true of 25% of Americans, and 34% of Europeans. ([ref](http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/14/277058739/1-in-4-americans-think-the-sun-goes-around-the-earth-survey-says)) – ChrisW May 12 '15 at 22:38
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    Tricky. How can we answer this non-anecdotally? – Oddthinking May 13 '15 at 03:37
  • @Oddthinking: impossible. – George Chalhoub May 13 '15 at 08:23
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    @Oddthinking The hashtag is evidence: because (being used by Arabic-speakers) it presumably doesn't "depend on that one single translation". An independent (of the one translation) written transcript of the speech would also be evidence; so would any commentary published in Arabic-language media. – ChrisW May 13 '15 at 08:46
  • "is this translation correct" is a matter of opinions, though. The question should be rephrased as not to appeal to personal authority or anecdotal answers. – Sklivvz May 13 '15 at 08:47
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    @Sklivvz Maybe, if your name is [Humpty-Dumpty](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpty_Dumpty#In_Through_the_Looking-Glass). In other contexts, words are understandable with defined meanings. – ChrisW May 13 '15 at 08:49
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    I disagree with mod @Sklivvz, correct translation is not a matter of opinions. – George Chalhoub May 13 '15 at 09:34
  • @ChrisW, the hashtag could be used as evidence, but i'm not sure if it would be enough evidence since the OP would be skeptical about the translation of the arabic tweets or well even the translation of the arabic hashtag "داعية_ينفي_دوران_الأرض" which means "Cleric denies the Earth's rotation" – George Chalhoub May 13 '15 at 09:41
  • It's easier to translate written language than spoken. – ChrisW May 13 '15 at 09:48
  • If it counts, I have seen school books from various Muslim countries in an exhibition and also know teachers who have worked in multiple countries and never once heard or scene anything about heliocentrism. And where I live, they start teaching us about this in 2nd grade! – Ansari May 13 '15 at 09:56
  • @georgechalhoub and ChrisW: translations are *absolutely* a matter of opinions. There's a [whole field of study](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation_studies) dedicated to the matter. The question can be rephrased to question whether the translation distorts the Arabic meaning, certainly. But there is no such thing as an objectively "correct" or "valid" translation. – Sklivvz May 13 '15 at 11:34
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    This question has multiple problems: in the title you ask whether the video is "authentic", in the body you ask whether it is "mistranslated" or taken out of context. These are three different questions, and not all are appropriate to this site. Questioning the authenticity of the video is fine, but you don't really seem to be skeptical that this is not staged; asking whether a translation is correct is not on topic; asking whether the cleric actually believes what he's seen to claim is also not on topic. – Sklivvz May 13 '15 at 11:41
  • @Sklivvz It's a matter of opinion but not only a matter of opinion (for example there are dictionaries). If it were only mere opinion then you wouldn't be able to write [an answer like this one](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/18920/2703). – ChrisW May 13 '15 at 12:24
  • @ChrisW We're talking about questions on the correctness of a translation, not answers that use translations. In the latter, a translation is a mere courtesy, not evidence. – Sklivvz May 13 '15 at 12:30
  • @Sklivvz "Did a Jewish prisoner ever write this?" - "No: there's evidence that someone wrote in German about *Gott* but it's impossible to attribute the phrase you quoted in the OP which is written in English, because any translation would be merely a matter of opinion." – ChrisW May 13 '15 at 12:39
  • @ChrisW Let's discuss this in [chat] – Sklivvz May 13 '15 at 12:41

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