Ravings of a Textual Deviant

I quote the Wikipedia article on Malaysia’s first astronaut, who is orbiting even as I type.

Since Sheikh Muszaphar is a Muslim, and as his time in space will coincide with the last part of Ramadan, the Islamic National Fatwa Council drew up the first comprehensive guidebook for Muslims in space. The 18-page guidebook is titled “Guidelines for Performing Islamic Rites (Ibadah) at the International Space Station”, and details issues such as how to pray in a low-gravity environment, how to locate Mecca from the ISS, how to determine prayer times, and issues surrounding fasting. The orbit of the ISS results in one day/night cycle every 90 minutes, so the issues of fasting during Ramadan are also addressed. The guidebook will be translated into Russian, Arabic, and English. Ramadan began on September 13, 2007, and continues through about October 13, 2007, meaning Sheikh Muszaphar will spend the last four days of Ramadan in space. Anan C. Mohd, from Malaysia’s Department of Islamic Development said that fasting while traveling is optional, so Sheikh Muszaphar could choose what he would like to do, but if he did decide to fast in space, the times would be centered around local time in Baikonur, where the launch takes place. Sheikh Muszaphar will celebrate Hari Raya aboard the station, and packed some satay and cookies to hand out to the rest of the crew on Saturday, October 13, to mark the end of Ramadan.

I think it’s actually pretty cool that someone has put this together; I think that a lot of people forget that the Muslim world was the center of scientific development for quite some time, and I am glad to see that culture sphere getting its science groove back.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 11th, 2007 at 6:37 am and is filed under This Modern World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.