I'm not trying to be snarky about this.
When I was in the Navy, at various times, a couple of the ships that I was on had young officers who were cross-decked from various Arab navies. When they got together for prayer, one of them would call up to the duty quartermaster and ask for the relative bearing to Mecca, as they had a religious duty to pray facing the Kaaba in Mecca.
In space, the requirement would be to face towards Earth. But that presents it's own problems. In essence, the requirement to determine the Qibla arose in a two-dimensional world. But space is a three-dimensional environment. If one were on a ship in deep space or on another world, the Qibla could be up, down, or at any angle from the vertical.
On a ship traveling for any distances, I think it would be presumable that the ship would have rotating elements to provide a form of artificial gravity. Which would make things rather difficult, unless the the Qibla were along the rotational axis.
Anyway, if I do a science fiction story, I might try to work that into it to see how it'd play out.
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Thursday, February 20, 2014
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Hm, interesting question - there are "Ask an Imam" advice columns out there, but you might get inconsistent answers.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, the Qibla is Somewhere, and when you are Somehwere Else, there's a line between you and it. Figuring it out shouldn't be hard, but getting your body in the correct and comfortable position might be difficult.
I recall once reading some piece about how Mormons would make good astronauts, or at least good workers to build space stations - they were sober, hard-working, inured to discomfort, and willing to put up with a lot in order to create something they felt necessary for the greater glory. Of course, it would have to be an orbiting Temple they were building... have to find this piece again, as I am probably remembering it wrong.
Hey, turns out the question has been resolved, since a devout Muslim has traveled in space!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2007/09/mecca_in_orbit
I once read an interview with a mullah about this very topic. Turns out there are two issues: Keeping Halal, and facing Mecca. Both were solved rather practically by the mullah -- face in the direction you believe Mecca to be, then don't worry about it, since Allah knows that you believe you are facing Mecca in your heart. The Halal part was resolved by the mullah saying, sure, eat halal if you can, but if you can't because you're in a spaceship and halal meals are not available, Islam is not a suicide pact -- eat what you must to stay alive then resume eating halal once you can do so.
ReplyDeleteBut really, we're sort of using a broad brush here anyhow. Talking about "Islam" is like talking about "Christians" or "Jews". There are so many sects with so many different beliefs that it's hard to know what any given believer in any of these major religions believes without querying him first about what sect he belongs to. A mullah of the Taliban is unlikely to be as forgiving as the mainstream mullah above and is likely to say "no proper Muslim can travel in space"...
Xians think of Heaven as "up" and hell as "down", so they have similar problems in free fall too. Jews have it easier, neither Heaven nor Hell.
ReplyDeleteA group in the UAE called the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment have issued a fatwa barring Muslims from living on Mars.
ReplyDeleteAnon, I think that fatwa applies only to the current plans for a one-way mission.
ReplyDeleteThere's a pretty-good science fiction book called Fool's War. It's by Sarah Zettel and was published in 1997. The ship on which most of the action takes part is captained and legally represented by two Muslim...women. In hijab. Yep, and they deal with facing Mecca and missing prayer for emergencies and all kinds of things. Plus, they're the only Muslims aboard.
ReplyDeleteThe book is more about AI - existence, sentience, right to exist and possible rights beyond that. All the questions that emerging AI conversations usually touch on.
If a question arises, it's likely someone has written spec fic about it! Love it.