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Seventeen years ago, Ben Carson delivered a commencement address at Andrews University that featured a very unusual theory: Maybe Joseph built the pyramids to store grain. The speech itself, dug up by the ever-enterprising Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed, was framed around Carson's trademark inspirational stories. "I thought that I would talk about my own personal philosophy for success in life," he told the graduating class. "Think big.? He used Joseph to illustrate the point. "Here was a man who was basically able to save the entire world with his big thinking," he mused. Joseph, in the biblical narrative, oversees the...

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is not backing down from a belief that drew widespread attention on Wednesday - that the Egyptian pyramids were built as grain silos, not elaborate tombs. In a 1998 commencement speech at Andrews University unearthed by BuzzFeed, Carson pointed to hermetically sealed chambers as a sign the pyramids were used by Egyptians to store grain and food. "My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain," Carson said in the speech, referring to the biblical figure. He added: "Now, all the archaeologists think that they were made for the pharaohs' graves. But,...

White House hopeful Donald Trump on Thursday poked fun at GOP presidential rival Ben Carson for his theory that the Egyptian pyramids were used to store grain, not serve as tombs for pharaohs. "I think I'll have to put that into my repertoire when I talk about Ben," the real estate tycoon said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "That was a strange ... that was a strange deal," Trump added. BuzzFeed on Wednesday published a video of Carson's 1998 commencement address at Andrews University, which was founded by Sevenths-day Adventists, during which he said he believed the biblical figure Joseph built...

The retired neurosurgeon seeking his party's nomination for the White House made these remarks in a 1998 address at Andrews University, a school associated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, to which he belongs, in a video posted Wednesday on Buzzfeed. The church is a conservative evangelical Christian one. "My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain," Carson said.

NAPLES, Florida -- Ben Carson stood by his long-held belief about ancient pyramids in Egypt, that they were used to store grain, rather than to inter pharaohs. Asked about this Wednesday, Carson told CBS News, "It's still my belief, yes." The subject came up when Buzzfeed published a 1998 commencement speech delivered by Carson at Andrews University, a college founded by Seventh-day Adventists. "My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain," Carson said. "Now all the archeologists think that they were made for the pharaohs' graves. But, you know, it would have to be something...

But experts say the five that he identified in Bosnia-Herzegovina are natural hills.Despite his many critics, maverick archaeologist Sam Osmanagich stands by his claims that he has uncovered not one, but five structures which he says are pyramids in Visoko in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Dr Osmanagich, who earned his doctorate on the history of civilisations at the University of Sarajevo in 2008, was in Singapore recently for a conference, where he spoke about his work on pyramids. The 55-year-old claims that he has discovered the "biggest complex of pyramidal structures in the world" comprising five pyramids, all connected by underground tunnels. The...

ISIS “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi told followers of his terror group that destroying Egypt’s national monuments, such as the pyramids and the sphinx, is a “religious duty” that must be carried out by those who worship Islam, as idolatry is strictly banned in the religion, according to reports.

ISIL is obliterating the Middle East's cultural landmarks. But should we arm ourselves in order to save threatened sites, asks Dan Cruickshank. ‘When Egypt comes under the auspices of the Khalifa [Caliphate], there will be no more Pyramids, no more Sphinx, no more idolatry.” This, I was told by British Muslim political activist Anjem Choudary, “will be just”. This chilling recent interview with Choudary in east London was part of a journey that started in early 2002. I went to Afghanistan in March of that year, just after the fall of the Taliban, to report for a television programme on...

In this June 18, 2015 photo, Zahi Hawass, Egypt's former head of antiquities, stands next to his new book, "The legend of Tutankhamun," as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in his office in Cairo. For more than a decade, he was the self-styled Indiana Jones of Egypt, presiding over its antiquities and striding through temples and tombs as the star of TV documentaries that made him an international celebrity. But four years after the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak and nearly ended his own career, Hawass can be found in a cramped office, lamenting...

On his last full day in space aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronaut Terry Virts at last captured a truly iconic shot of one of the “Seven Wonders of the World” – the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Virts snapped the exquisitely sharp view of the Egyptian pyramids at Giza on June 10 looking out from the stations windows, just hours before entering the Soyuz return spaceship and closing the hatches behind him for his planned plummet back to Earth. He proudly posted the spectacular photo on his twitter social media account from space while serving as...

On his last full day in space aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronaut Terry Virts at last captured a truly iconic shot of one of the “Seven Wonders of the World” – the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Virts snapped the exquisitely sharp view of the Egyptian pyramids at Giza on June 10 looking out from the stations windows, just hours before entering the Soyuz return spaceship and closing the hatches behind him for his planned plummet back to Earth. He proudly posted the spectacular photo on his twitter social media account from space while serving as...

Egypt ruler moved to pull down Cheops Pyramid of noble motives Cairo, 13:30 An Albanian with Macedonian origin, Muhammad Ali Pasha, ruler of Egypt, Syria and Arabia in 19th century, had ordered his French engineer Linan to pull down the Cheops Pyramid. The Great Pyramid of Cheops had been rescued with two piastres, the then Egyptian currency. This information was documented in archive paperwork kept in Revolution Museum depots. Media in Egypt cited extracts of these documents. According to documents, the then Egypt ruler Muhammad Ali wanted to remove stone blocks from their pyramid in order to build a dam...

Scientists from around the world have tried to understand how the Egyptians erected their giant pyramids. Now, an architect and researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) says he has the answer to this ancient, unsolved puzzle. Researchers have been so preoccupied by the weight of the stones that they tend to overlook two major problems: How did the Egyptians know exactly where to put the enormously heavy building blocks? And how was the master architect able to communicate detailed, highly precise plans to a workforce of 10,000 illiterate men? A 7-million-ton structure These were among the...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://frontpagemag.com - Calls to Destroy Egypt’s Great Pyramids BeginPosted By Raymond Ibrahim On July 10, 2012 @ 12:35 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 20 Comments According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt’s Great Pyramids—or, in the words of Saudi Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Rabi‘i, those “symbols of paganism,” which Egypt’s Salafi party has long planned to cover with wax.    Most recently, Bahrain’s “Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs” and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt’s new president, Muhammad Morsi, to “destroy the Pyramids...

Following are excerpts from a show featuring Egyptian Salafi Sheikh Murgan Salem, which aired on Dream 2 TV, on November 10 and 13, 2012. Murgan Salem: They must pay the jizya poll tax. They cannot be exempted. TV host Wael Al-Abrashi: You mean the Christians...? Murgan Salem: I'll tell you, just bear with me. Yes, this should be one of the sources of income of the state. The Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians are welcome to live in the Abode of Islam, as long as they pay the jizya poll tax, and abide by the terms set by the Emir of...

Experts say among the manuscripts lost are maps of Napoleon's conquest of Egypt in 1798, as well as a map used in the 1989 Israeli withdrawal from Taba. Hundreds of rare manuscripts and maps, including the maps used in 1989 Israeli withdrawal from Taba, were destroyed this week, as rioters set fire to a library in the Cairo's Scientific Complex in the fourth day of renewed clashes between protesters and security forces... Mamdouh al-Masry, an Egyptian archaeology professor also speaking with Al-Arabiya said the country's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces was responsible for the destruction, criticizing for failing to...

A Kuwaiti Islamic preacher has raised many eyebrows by echoing the calls made by extremist group Isis to destroy the ancient Egyptian Sphinx and pyramids — one of the seven wonders of the world that has captured the imaginations of people for centuries. The preacher recognised by an Egyptian newspaper as Ibrahim Al Kandari reportedly said that just because early Muslims did not dare destroy them, it did not mean all present-day Muslims must follow them. "The fact that early Muslims who were among Prophet Mohammed's followers did not destroy the pharaoh's monuments upon entering the Egyptian soil, does not mean...

An Islamist preacher from Kuwait called for the demolition of the Giza pyramids and Sphinx "to put an end to idolatry and the worship of such pagan constructions." "The fact that early Muslims did not destroy the pharaohs' legacy upon the Arab conquest of Egypt does not mean that we shouldn't do it now," preacher Ibrahim al-Kandari was quoted by the Kuwaiti Al-Watan daily newspaper Tuesday. The call echoes that of leader of Islamic State (IS) group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who described the destruction of the historic monuments and archaeological sites as a "religious duty," Al-Ahram reported. The alleged call...

An online magazine has offered translations to Arabic news sources that purportedly indicate that Egypt's Salafi party has come forth with plans to demolish Egypt's Great Pyramids in an effort to bring down what it calls "symbols of paganism." Bahrain's "Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs" and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, has reportedly urged Egypt's new president, Muhammad Morsi, to "destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what Amr bin al-As could not," according to conservative political publication FrontPage Magazine. Al-Mahmoud's comments relate to Amr bin al-As, a companion of the Islam's founder Muhammad, who invaded Egypt in 641 and began...

Following are excerpts from a show featuring Egyptian Salafi sheikh Murgan Salem; the show aired on Dream 2 TV, on November 10 and 13, 2012.Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV. "Jews, Christians, And Zoroastrians Are Welcome To Live In The Abode Of Islam, As Long As They Pay The Jizya" Murgan Salem: "They must pay the jizya poll tax. They cannot be exempted."TV host Wael Al-Abrashi: "You mean the Christians...?"Murgan Salem: "I'll tell you, just bear with me. Yes, this should be one of the sources of income of the state. The Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians are welcome...