There have been over 800 Nobel prizes awarded - Jews have been awarded over 160 in all categories,Those of the Islamic faith 11. Jews comprise .2 % of the worlds population,Muslims 25%. These statistics perhaps explain the ignorance of the Saudi cleric.
In the 1980's when I was in Saudi the head of the ulema was Sheik Al Baz - he publicly claimed that the Earth was flat,even after Prince Bandar brought back photographs taken on his flight in the space shuttle.