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You jest, but when Malaysia sent their first astronaut (a Malay Muslim who wanted to pray while in the ISS) they actually organised an entire conference with 150 Islamic scholars to work out things like "where is the qibla when in space" https://www.wired.com/2007/09/mecca-in-orbit/ https://twitter.com/linaposting/status/1382846113305141253
The actual document is pretty charming: https://www.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/files/a_guideline_ibadah_at_iss.doc
As far as the direction of qibla is concerned, the priority is:
i. The Ka’aba
ii. The projection of Ka’aba
iii. The Earth
iv. Wherever
(literal quote from the document)
As far as the direction of qibla is concerned, the priority is:
i. The Ka’aba
ii. The projection of Ka’aba
iii. The Earth
iv. Wherever
(literal quote from the document)
Prayer times:
"The daily five prayer times is defined in a 24 hour duration (equals to 1 Earth day) following the time zone at which port the astronaut is launched (in this case, Baikonur, Kazakhstan)."
"The daily five prayer times is defined in a 24 hour duration (equals to 1 Earth day) following the time zone at which port the astronaut is launched (in this case, Baikonur, Kazakhstan)."
There's even a very condensed version of the prayer sequence (or "choreography" as a recently viral tweet said, which honestly is Not Wrong) which is adaptable based on what's physically possible to do in space. One of the options is "Imagining the sequence of prayer."
Appropriate for Ramadan, fasting times operate the same way as prayer times - based on the times from location of the launching port. Or you can make it up when you're back on Earth.
The line about death in space saying that if it's not possible to bring the body back to Earth, "the deceased should be buried in space with a simple funeral process" intrigues me - how WOULD you bury a body in space??? Go to the Moon???
"If there is doubt on whether the food served on ISS it is halal or not, it is then permissible to eat the food on the basis of not to starve."
Allah does not want you to go hungry even in space
Allah does not want you to go hungry even in space
The last point: "According to Islam, traveling to space is encouraged."
I would LOVE to see the various Quran and Hadith lines these scholars used to back this up, because it's a beautiful sentiment.
I would LOVE to see the various Quran and Hadith lines these scholars used to back this up, because it's a beautiful sentiment.
So yes, there are guidelines for Muslims in space, thanks Malaysia!
Interestingly Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor (the Malaysian astronaut) is nowhere near the first Muslim in space (Saudi Arabia sent one in 1985) but it's surprising that it took until his voyage in 2007 for there to be some actual discussions around space fatwa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_astronauts
I found the original guidelines document! It's published in Malay, English, Arabic, and Russian! mostly the same content though there is a foreword here that the Wired Word doc doesn't have https://www.islam.gov.my/images/garis-panduan/Buku-Garis-Panduan-ISS-Dalam-Versi-Malaysia-Arab-Russia-Inggeris.pdf
Turns out Muslims in Space (specifically the Malaysian astronaut) has a lot more involvement with Russian politics than I anticipated: https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/30909/201310SH.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Some people asked about rules for sea travel. Apparently there's some debate about whether sea travel is allowed at all - there's a weakly verified Hadith (saying from Muhammad) forbidding it, but also a long history of Muslim traders traveling by sea. https://hadithanswers.com/hadith-on-sea-travel/
I can't seem to fine any particularly extensive set of fatwa around sea travel, not to the degree of these space guidelines which (a) are very recent (b) only came about at the request of the astronaut (c) required a specific conference.
Burial at sea is also controversial - it seems to be more of a "last resort" thing. (Cremation is forbidden in Islam) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/02/sea-burial-osama-bin-laden
It's worth nothing that these can be different between Sunni, Shi'a, and Sufi Islam, as well as separate mazhabs (schools of thought/orthodoxy usually based geographically) in Sunni Islam. Malaysia is Shafie'e Sunni, one of the more orthodox rules-lawyery mazhabs.
(these guidelines strike me as being more permissive than I would have expected from Malaysia's Islamic authorities, given that these are broadly the same people that want to declare hot dogs haram for having the word "dog" in it. Maybe the Space contingent are more progressive.)
It would be interesting to see if these guidelines on space travel actually do end up influencing specific guidelines/fatwa on sea travel if Muffin scholars and jurisprudists end up having a conference about it
As an example of how different mazhabs affect Islamic practice: the calculation for certain Muslim prayer times differ subtly between mazhabs https://musliminc.com/calculating-muslim-prayer-times-7401#:~:text=Midnight%20is%20generally%20calculated%20as,2(Fajr%20%E2%80%93%20Sunset).
JINN ASTRONAUTS WHEN
muting this thread so I might miss replies but thank you for being super keen! not much to promote other than my shenanigans: http://creatrixtiara.com
