Muslim astronauts?

Question

Recently there was a story about a Muslim astronaut who had logged in some time and done research on the ISS (or something). He had difficulty positioning himself to pray to Mecca (especially when it went whizzing directly below).

This just seems silly to me. I'm not asking a bigoted or barbed question but I want know (mostly from Muslims) whether Muslims could reform their faith (and this is a relatively unimportant reform) to the extent that Muslims would not be encumbered with trying to pray in space (zero-g and everything). At some point shouldn't it boil down to practicality?

Additionally, sooner or later we'll probably colonize other worlds like Mars. At that distance Earth is just a "pale blue dot", another single point of light just as we see Venus and Mars from our night sky. It'd be a little easier to pray to Mecca then, but would Muslims then begin to worry about distinguishing prayer to Mecca and prayer to the whole planet (which is mostly a land of infidels anyway)?

If by last bit in parenthesis is somehow offensive I apologize, but that's not enough of a reason not to answer. I'm an atheist anyway so the part about Earth being mostly full of infidels is from a rhetorical Muslim POV. Even if liberal Muslims don't want to refer to non-Muslims as "infidels", fine, but the fact remains that most of Earth's population (5/6th, from the numbers I hear) is not Muslim. So it is then reasonable to ask whether Muslim authorities and traditionalists would not be satisfied with Muslims living on other planets simply praying to the dot-in-the-sky of Earth and the Moon and would want to (somehow) demarcate prayer to Earth from prayer to Mecca.

I don't find prayer useful or desirable anyway, but I would think it would be a good thing, more humanistic and inclusive, to transition from prayer to Mecca to prayer to the Earth.

Answer 1

There is no problem for muslim astronauts if they want to pray in the ISS and it do not need a reform because God has given a flexibilty and easiness for that.All part of this universe and among of them belong to Allah the only one God.Where we are,any part is sacred for praying except in the place of litters,dirt,bathroom and any other dirty place Muhammad pbuh in his hadith said that in any emergency situation such as in the vehicle in a journey we can pray as obligation of muslim to any direction .They do not need to direct their praying to the qiblat(direction of praying to Mecca)

Answer 2

The Sumerian,s were the first known civilization in ancient history, some dating back much earlier than the flood. Babylon is now Iraq, many of these tablet and artifacts were destroyed when we bombed Bagdhad. Many of the tablets were carved out of stone, revealing many spaceships, launching pads. Their flight helmets, aerial shots of the launching pads and the runways. All of the planets were carved into tablets, including Pluto that was discovered thousands of yrs ago. The tablet showed Mt. Sinai and still on top of the Mt. today, is totally burned and is still black today and no one seem to know why.Their knowledge and the technology they had were very superior and it would stagger the imagination. Many tablets were actually rolled out like we would use rubber stamps. Most people believe this was a hoax, except for the many many stories in the bible that proved that it reads so much of old testament. To be able to put your hands on these tablets and know that they actually were written, some say over thousands of years. There are the accounts of the flood the tower of Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his family,Abraham, and Sarah. It is like one proves the other and it gives much description to detail accounts of the bible.

Answer 3

His name is Dr. Syeikh Muzaffar.

When he said he had difficulty positioning himself to pray, its not about facing Makkah. Its about being still.
Technically he is on a vehicle in space. So the regulation concerning facing Qiblah(Kaabah) for prayers is being suspended and the regulation of following the bow the ship came into play.
Facing Kaabah, the Qiblah is when we are standing with firm ground beneath our feet. That is the requirement. But while we are on a vehicle, a ship, or in this case a space station, we face the bow or the front of the vehicle/ship/space station.
I hope this will clear the misunderstanding.

002.177 It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces Towards east or West; but it is righteousness- to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the God-fearing.

Al-Qur'an, 002.177 (Al-Baqara [The Cow])
Text Copied from DivineIslam's Qur'an Viewer software v2.9

Islam already have a solution to the problem at hand. Dr Syeikh Muzzaffar explaination of the situation up there will certainly be very valuable to all Muslim worldwide, especially regarding practising in outer space.

Answer 4

I'd like to see a woman in a burka wearing a space-suit.

Answer 5

Can Catholics change their religions so that they can eat meat during Friday Barbeques? No, so be quiet and don't criticize please...(1st thing was an anology)

Answer 6

Your last sentence in paranteses destroys all your good reasoning and explanations. Thus, your question does not deserve an answer - though I do have one.

Answer 7

Isn't it all very very silly? Rhetorical.