One-way Mars trip a sign of flexibility

Muslims should embrace space travel, writes Shelina Janmohamed

Star Wars creator George Lucas credits Islamic mysticism with the creation of ‘Al-jeddi’ spiritual warriors. Winslow Townson / AP Photo

There’s nothing like a controversial fatwa to make good news headlines. But none quite caught my attention as much as a ruling supposedly forbidding travel to Mars.

The General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment (GAIAE) in the UAE issued the fatwa last summer to prohibit Muslims going on a one-way journey to Mars. The committee argued that trying to live on the planet would be so hazardous as to be suicidal and killing oneself is not permitted by Islam.

Ibn Battuta would not have agreed. Muslims were once adventurous and curious by spirit, and no barrier was too great, no distance too far and no obstacle insurmountable. The stars were not the limit, but instead an invitation into the lowest of the seven heavens and the gateway to other worlds mentioned in the Quran where humans could enter with permission.

Travel to Mars is already a reality, with the UAE planning its own unmanned mission to the planet in 2021. Mars One, a not-for-profit organisation based in the Netherlands, took that a step further by launching conceptual plans to establish a permanent human colony on the planet. The first people would travel in 2024 on a one-way trip, with no plan to return.

Despite this, more than 200,000 people from around the world applied for a place and this week the shortlist of the final 100 was announced, from which the crew of 24 will be chosen. It’s great to see it includes several individuals from Muslim nations.

So far there have been nine Muslim astronauts. The Iranian Space Agency has successfully launched monkeys into space, along with orbital probes and imaging satellites.

In 2007, a Malaysian astronaut joined the International Space Station. Part of his flight was during Ramadan, precipitating Islamic discussions on how exactly Muslims should continue Islamic rituals like prayer and fasting when the day-night span was only 90 minutes and the direction of Makkah changed every few minutes.

What is apparent is that Islam is an extremely flexible religion, whether on land, sea or in the unknown reaches of space. Sci-fi is being used to explore what it means to be Muslim and to believe in the Divine when earthly constraints are removed. In space, the politics and stereotyping of Muslims no longer count.

The awesome worlds of the Arabian nights are just one early example of this imagination. Star Wars creator George Lucas credits Islamic mysticism with the creation of ‘Al-jeddi’ spiritual warriors. In 1905, Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain portrayed a feminist utopia where women reject the tradition of purdah, or female seclusion, and govern a world of anti-violence and flying cars. In The Chronicles of Riddick, New Mecca is the capital city of planet Helion Prime where interplanetary pilgrim, Imam al-Walid, finds refuge from religious fanatics.

David Weintraub’s book, Religions and Extraterrestial Life, concludes that Islam is the most explicitly accepting religion when it comes to alien life. He argues that “the discovery of extraterrestrials should only strengthen a Muslim’s faith in the presumed infinite power of God.”

Shelina Zahra Janmohamed is the author of Love in a Headscarf and blogs at www.spirit21.co.uk