Malaysia Creates Religious Guidelines for Muslim Astronauts

[AHMED_GUREY]

Malaysia Creates Religious Guidelines for Muslim Astronauts
Tuesday , May 01, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia


Muslim-majority Malaysia's first astronaut will get guidelines allowing flexibility in praying in zero gravity and eating space meals under Islamic rules, the country space chief said Monday.

The government-prepared advice is for a Malaysian joining a Russian scientific mission on the International Space Station in October, Malaysia's National Space Agency chief Mazlan Othman told The Associated Press.

Officials have previously said an Islamic code of conduct in space is necessary because few Muslims have embarked on such expeditions, and there have been no standardized guidelines for them.

Malaysia's two finalists for the voyage, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and Faiz Khaleed, are now training in Moscow. They were selected from more than 10,000 candidates.

Malaysia held a forum for Islamic scholars in April 2006 to discuss problems Muslim space travelers might face, such as pinpointing the Saudi holy city of Mecca, which Muslims are expected face when they pray five times a day.

The guideline booklet, published this month, says the direction should be determined "according to the capability" of the astronaut.

Those in space during the holy fasting month of Ramadan — when Muslims are required to go without food or water from sunrise to sunset — can choose to fast then or to make up for it when they return, the booklet says.

The first Malaysian astronaut's stint will likely overlap with Ramadan, which starts in mid-September this year.

If Muslim astronauts doubt whether a meal is halal, or prepared according to Islamic rules, they "should consume it only to the extent of restraining hunger," the guidelines say.

The astronaut must be dressed decently whenever in public view, which involves covering at least the portion of the body between the navel and the knees for men. Both of the finalists for Malaysia's first astronaut are males.

Maintaining Islamic beliefs "is mandatory for Muslims in every situation, time and place," Mustafa Abdul Rahman, who heads Malaysia's state-run Department of Islamic Development, said in the guidelines.

"Circumstances on the ISS which are different from circumstances on Earth are not an obstacle for an astronaut to fulfill a Muslim's obligations," he said.

Other Muslims who have gone to space include Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan bin Salman, who went aboard the U.S. shuttle Discovery in 1985, and Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-American telecommunications entrepreneur who went to the ISS in September 2006.
Source

[Keltoi]

What direction would a Muslim face if he or she was orbiting the Earth? I suppose they could figure out the general direction.

**nevermind, missed that section of the article.

[north_malaysian]

How did Prince Sultan Bin Salman did his religious deeds on space?

Actually, the religious guidelines were established after the Malaysian Muslim public requested the religious authority about how to perform religious obligations on space.

[AHMED_GUREY]

^This is a good booklet put together by Malaysia since more muslim nations might follow the Space exploration path and might need it in the future for reference!

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

Neat! I suppose it wont be too hard to figure out the direction I mean you wll be looking at the entire earth and see all the continents...
Since we know the Kaaba IS in the center of the earth. And if you know where the center is, it should be no problem, right lol

[AHMED_GUREY]

Neat! I suppose it wont be too hard to figure out the direction I mean you wll be looking at the entire earth and see all the continents...
Since we know the Kaaba IS in the center of the earth. And if you know where the center is, it should be no problem, right lol

It's not a map so your only able to see one side of the earth or a part of it


what now? (to be honest i don't even know how there planning to do it or what the guidelines are in the booklet about the right direction to Makkah )

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

Woops i dunno why i said entire earth...i meant the earth LOL. but u could still figure it out...
Is it RECOMMENDED to make Salaah when your in space? Ill prolly get a yes....but i just wana make sure Does the Musafir rule apply here too? Like only havin to read a lil bit....hmm.

[FatimaAsSideqah]

Science and Islam
Space Travel in 1999: Allah Sets the Limits

By Karima Burns, MH, ND

03/02/2001

Space exploration has historically been attributed to the realm of human achievement. From the time we first realized that the earth rotates around the sun to the time we first landed on the moon, man has taken credit for his achievements in exploring and conquering space.

In fact, until recently, man felt that he was close to conquering space itself as all that he was able to see in the universe appeared to be within his reach. However, this past year, the limits of man's attempts at exploration were revealed when he finally realized just how infinite space truly is.

Whereas man originally thought that the sun and the moon were the limits of heaven, and then more recently, his perception expanded to include all of our solar system and some scattered systems beyond, he is finally coming to terms with the reality that space is indeed limitless and endless. The Qur'an says, "(The heavens) hath seven gates, and each gate hath an appointed portion" (15:44). As humans, we are finally beginning to realize how inaccessible the heavens are and with how much awe we should regard them.

In the Qur'an (36:40), Allah reveals to us that, "It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor doth the night outstrip the day. They float each in an orbit," but the rest of the heavens is largely left a mystery for us. We are simply told, "Oh, jinn and men, if ye have power to penetrate (all) regions of the heavens and the earth, then penetrate (them)! Ye will never penetrate them save with (Our) sanction" (55:33).

Given this promise, it seems that Allah has indeed blessed us this year by allowing us to penetrate "where no man had ever gone before." It follows that our recent achievements in science should finally create in us - rather than a feeling of achievement - awe for the creation of Allah.

The Qur'an says, "(Whereby) the angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day whereof the span is fifty thousand years" (70:3). Contrast this with the reality of the space probe Galileo that arrived at Jupiter five years ago. Since then, Galileo has traveled more than 2 billion miles and returned more than 25,000 images.

Consider how much more of space would be explored if Allah were to allow it to travel another 45,995 years. Just imagining this brings us to a realization of just how little of space we actually have explored. And when we consider how hard we struggled to obtain this small amount of data about just one planet and its moons, the reality of our achievement is even more reduced.

Popular Science magazine writes about the space probe Galileo as if it were writing an adventure story; "Galileo takes a licking and keeps on ticking ... while taking a closer look at the moon Europa, and then circling dangerously close to the fiery moon Io." The Qur'an (21:30) says, "Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were of one piece, then We parted them, and We made every living thing of water? Will they not then believe?"

Astronomers are now discovering that Mars may indeed have water on its surface and that beneath the icy crusts of Europa (one of Jupiter's moons), there may be an ocean many times larger than any ocean found on Earth. Jupiter's moon, Callisto, may also have oceans. Just three years ago, scientists were convinced that Earth was the only planet with water.

And beyond the realm of what we can understand is also the realm of what remains hidden. For many years, scientists have been exploring what they call black holes. To many scientists, a black hole is simply an "absence of matter" or a phenomenon that they cannot completely explain. Unable to see a black hole itself, the researchers search for its "signature," the unique way that it affects nearby matter. They observe how nearby stars swarm around it and they measure how fast the black hole whips them around in order to determine its colossal size and precisely measure its location.

Recently, results have shown that a black hole found right in the middle of our Milky Way Galaxy is as massive as 2.6 million stars all squeezed into a space as wide as the earth's orbit around the sun. However, these calculations themselves create the question as to how such a big black hole could so easily hide within our galaxy, and force researchers to rethink the manner in which black holes interact with other bodies in the universe.

To a Muslim scientist, however, the black hole is an ultimate proof of the existence of Allah. Scientists cannot see a black hole, but they can prove that it is there by the "signs" it leaves within space. How then is that many people believe in black holes, and yet refuse to believe in the "signs" sent by Allah as proof of His existence? The Qur'an says, "Allah speaketh to mankind in allegories, for Allah is knower of all things" (Sura 24:35).

Another discovery this year highlighted the fact that what we are now exploring is only a "drop in the bucket" of existence. Astronomers have long wondered about a faint x-ray mist that covered the universe, but could not find its source. Recent research in 2000 by the Chandra observatory pinpointed the haze to over 70 million galaxies with massive black holes at their cores. These galaxies are the most distant objects that scientists have ever detected.

It is a fact that the more we discover, the more we realize we have not discovered. From the interior of the human DNA to the far outreaches of space, man finds himself in awe of Allah's limitless creation. However, contrary to the belief of many scientists, their discoveries do not bring us closer to "knowing God's secrets"; instead, they actually serve as an illustration of how unattainable they really are.

A hundred years ago, our galaxy was the only space we knew of and aspired to conquer. Now, just a hundred years later, and thanks to our achievements in space exploration during the year 2000, we realize how large the "map" of space really is.

http://198.65.147.194/english/Scienc...article4.shtml



Fi Amani Allah