Being a devout Muslim in space

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor of Malaysia just became the first Malaysian astronaut when a Soyuz rocket blasted off two days ago from Kazakhstan. For Sheikh Shukor, this journey is not only a significant accomplishment, but also a dilemma, for as a devout Muslim he must try to accommodate Islamic religious practices while in space. The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting story about his situation.

Imagine trying to pray five times a day in zero gravity while having to face an ever-shifting Mecca hundreds of miles below. How do you ritually wash yourself without water? And, now that it’s Ramadan, how do you fast from sunrise to sunset when you see a sunrise and a sunset every 90 minutes?

… up to now, there have been no guidelines for Muslim religious practice in space. And so the Malaysian National Space Agency (MNSA) and its Department of Islamic Development held a two-day conference in April last year. They invited 150 scholars, scientists, and astronauts to discuss “Islam and Life in Space.” The result is a recently published booklet of guidelines for the faithful Muslim astronaut.

The solutions?

Five times a day (before sunrise, at midday, in late afternoon, after sunset, and at night), earth-bound muezzins call Muslims to prayer. A spaceship traveling 17,400 miles per hour orbits the earth 16 times in a day. Does that mean praying 80 times in 24 hours?

The guidelines are much more reasonable: Daily prayer in space is not linked to sunrises and sunsets, but to a 24-hour cycle…Five meditations every 24 hours will suffice…

The next problem: Where is Mecca? Muslims on Earth face Mecca, in central Saudi Arabia, when they pray. The MNSA suggests that the astronaut pray toward Mecca as much as possible, or at the Earth in general. But if it becomes necessary, the astronaut may simply face any direction.

The guidelines also provide suggestions for dealing with prayer postures, ritual washing and diet in space. All issues that early Muslims certainly never imagined having to deal with.

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