Scholars who have studied the Word of God are not always subject to air resistance. Among the holy men of the Circassians, there are those who can sit in a high wind, deep in meditation, and it will simply flow around them giving no disturbance.
After putting away the supper dishes, the Circassian woman unrolled a feather mattress for the Mullah, for in those mountains a traveler is always welcome to spend the night. She would, she announced, share the haystack with her husband. The Mullah detected a scent of jasmine and cinammon about the woman and ardently desired to engage her in conversation.
Since a satellite was passing along the meridian overhead, he asked how fast she thought it might be going. The woman replied that as he very well knew the earth's diameter was 8000 miles, and hence its circumference 25,000 miles, he could see for himself that they traveled 25,000 miles in 94 minutes. So why, she wondered, was he asking?
Desperate for any way to continue the conversation, the Mullah replied that he was on his way to Mecca, as pilgrim of the Hajj, and that his spiritual devotions were so intense at times that he was not subject to air resistance. Therefore, said the Mullah, if he could be launched with the proper speed and direction he would achieve orbit and fly to the City of the Prophet instead of having to walk.
Nothing could be simpler, said the woman, for Mecca is on the same line of longitude that we are, and due south of here. You have merely to face Mecca and bend over—my husband will see to the rest. While the Mullah made his preparations, the Circassian woman, reflecting that a more accurate figure for the circumference was 24,700 miles, divided this by 94 minutes and went to fetch her husband. Then, at the Mullah's request, he was launched due south at 263 miles a minute by a solid kick from the woman's husband and in this manner arrived at his destination in a very short time.
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note: As a slight refinement, the woman uses 3936 miles — earth's average radius — instead of the rounder figure of 3940, which is its radius at the equator. 3936 miles multiplied by 2pi and divided by 94 minutes is 263 miles per minute. The woman wished to use more precision in calculating the proper launch speed than she chose to use in conversation with her guest. Mecca being due south from there makes it easier than it normally would be to know in which direction to launch the Mullah.