Datuk Sheikh Muszaphar, Malaysia’s first astronaut, has come forward yet again to quash flat Earth conspiracy theorists on social media. — Bernama pic

PETALING JAYA, Oct 14 — It seems that there is no way to convince “flat Earthers” that our planet isn’t in the shape of a plane or disk.

That is unless you swear on God’s name.

That’s exactly what Malaysia’s first astronaut, Datuk Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha, has been going through as he received thousands of messages on his social media accounts from conspiracy theorists asking him about the shape of the Earth.

On top of that, some social media users even had the audacity to make him swear on God’s name that the Earth is a sphere, and that he would be punished by God if he is lying.

Two days ago, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar posted a screenshot from a conversation he had with a social media user, who said that he was waiting for the Angakasawan to swear on God’s name because he never “dared” to do so previously.

Undoubtedly angered by such messages, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar wrote a detailed caption with the post to debunk the Malaysian believers of the flat Earth society’s theories once and for all.

“I get thousands of DM’s on my social media asking me about the shape of the Earth, and some even have the guts asking me to swear on the name of God,” he wrote.

“I don’t simply use the name of God just to prove a point and make people believe me, but if this is what it takes... then I swear in the name of God that the Earth is a sphere as seen with my own eyes from space.”

The 47-year-old added that no matter how much he tried to explain to “flat Earthers” about his experiences in space, he could “never convince them,” as they continued to cling onto their unfactual beliefs.

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar also said that he found their disproven claims “appalling” because there is no concrete evidence to support their theory.

He also said that he has continuously posted statements and pictures he took from space onto his social media accounts to prove that the Earth is shaped like a sphere to all the naysayers.

“It’s harder to convince or debate with the uneducated compared to the intellectuals because they don’t understand the basics of knowledge,” he wrote.

Earlier this year, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar was embroiled in another high-profile flat-Earth debate when nasyid singer, Suhaimi Saad challenged him on social media to prove that the Earth was not flat.

He responded by saying:

“I went around the Earth 16 times a day, and it is shaped like a geosphere, to be exact, squashed at the poles and bulging at the Equator, not like a ball, but more to an egg.”