If visiting the space station mia. How would you find east so you could pray to Alahh?

Answer 1

Whether or not you regard Allah as an idiotic fairy tale, the question is relevant because there is at this moment a Muslim astronaut on his way to the ISS, and he has stated that he intends to observe his prayers while in space.

I think you are not supposed to face east, but rather face toward Mecca. Depending on where you are in your orbit, Mecca might be toward the east, the west, the north or the south.

Contrary to what some have said, it is not very helpful to simply "face the earth." Perhaps they are imagining that the earth looks like a tiny ball from the space station. But in fact, it takes up one's entire field of view. The space station is a mere 200 miles above the surface of the earth. On the scale of a 12-inch world globe, the position of the space station is less than half an inch from the surface!

Furthermore, the direction toward Mecca would change quite quickly, because of the great speed of your orbit (about 5 miles per second). You circle the entire globe in about 90 minutes; so during part of that time, Mecca will be east of you; but minutes later it will be west of you, and so on.

I think the best bet is to use a computer program. A fairly simple program can calculate where the space station will be at any time in the near future; and can also calculate in which direction Mecca would be at that time.

Answer 2

I'm afraid Mia is no longer there it was burnt up in the atmosphere a few years ago when the International Space Station replaced it. However if you wanted to find East you could look for the Great bear constellation through one of the windows I think, find North and from this find East.

Answer 3

what some of you are saying basically simplifies Einstein's theory of relativity. all viewpoints in the universe are relative there is no standard universal reference frame from which to see everything. so east is only a reference frame for anybody on earth. east does not technically exist in space

Answer 4

Malaysia's first astronaut

Sheikh Muszaphar is eminently qualified to be an astronaut, cosmonaut and researcher aboard Soyuz and aboard the ISS."

Muszaphar arrives on the ISS near the end of the holy month of Ramadan, and has taken along some Malaysian delicacies to share with the crew during this weekend's Eid festival.

One of only a handful of Muslims to have travelled to space, he has said he will try to observe the fasting rules of Ramadan while on his journey.

Malaysian religious authorities have prepared guidelines on how to practise Islam in space, including how to perform the ritual ablutions and hold the prayer position in a weightless environment.

Answer 5

You face Mecca while praying, so if Mecca is on the Earth then just face towards the Earth? Then you would be towards Mecca, so it should be ok. Because you would move over the earth roughly once every 70 minutes, I don't think there would be a way to face Mecca precisely, but I'm sure Allah would understand that.

Answer 6

East describes a direction relative to where you are on Earth. If you are ABOVE Earth, there is no "East". If one is a Muslim, they should pray facing the Earth, since that is the direction of Mecca.

Answer 7

in space there is no east.

Answer 8

If you're qualified to visit the space station, then you probably don't believe in idiotic fairy tales to begin with, so there's no problem at all.

Answer 9

You don't face "east", you face Mecca. All the astornaut has to do is face earth.

Answer 10

Before you leave Earth, find a star in the universe that you could see from the naked eye that's in the east, than when you get into space, look for that star, and then you'll know you're looking east/

Q.L.