NO!
That was my answer. People were ranting and raving digitally when I told them online that our happy Angkasawan will NOT be the first Muslim to fly into space.
The confusion seems to have stemmed from the fact that the National Space Agency does not know how the first Malaysian Angkasawan will find his direction to the Kaabah when he performs his prayer. IF HE PRAYS AT ALL, THAT IS. Until some smart alec who thinks he is smart came out with a calculation on how to face Mecca to pray.
So is he going to be the first Muslim to fly into space?
Before I answer that question, let me just go on a bit more on this confusing confusion.
When I was part of the North Pole Freefall Expedition back in 1998, I asked the Religious Advisor to the King that since I would be at the North Pole at a time when the sun never sets, and whichever direction I would look to would be South, how do I face the Kiblat (Mecca). His answer was simple. There is a verse in the Holy Quran that mentions whichever you look, whether to the East or to the West, you will see the “face” of Allah. So you can pray to him anytime, anywhere and in any direction. However, the Kiblat is set so it would be universally uniformed for Muslims to pray towards one symbolic direction. After all, God is Almighty, and everywhere you look He is there. So in our case, agree on a concensus for one direction, and pray towards that direction.
So is he going to be the first Muslim to fly into space?
Wait! So is the happy guy going to pray at all?
Would he not be a musafir (traveller) and is therefore not made compulsory to pray? Some would say since he will be “living” in the International Space Station for a week, he would have his musafir status revoked as he would be a mastautin (dweller) of the International Space Station.
My argument is: since the International Space Station itself is a moving vehicle, wouldn’t he still be a musafir? It does not permanently face any single direction. It is definitely not geostationary. So it conforms to a moving vehicle. Do you pray inside your car while it moves? You can sleep in it too while it moves. I know. I’ve done it even while driving. Therefore, to me, our Angkasawan would be a musafir until he is back on terra firma.
So is he going to be the first Muslim to fly into space?
My answer is NO!
The first Muslim in space was Prince Sultan ibn Salman ibn Abdul Aziz al Saud, now a minister in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He flew on the Space Shuttle Discovery from the 17th through the 24th June 1985. Yes, he read the Quran and prayed in space. So the idiots at the National Space Agency should have studied some history on space missions before embarking in some quest that made Islam look like a very restrictive religion that is so anti-science and progress in the eyes of the Western media last year, when Islam is all about science and technology before the Muslims became stupid and let the Caliphs rule and let them into poverty and stupidity.
Oh, and as for the term ANGKASAWAN, it came from two words: ANGKA and SAWAN. Literally: Epileptic Figures. Look at the cost of sending one happy man into space and you would know my meaning.
SeaDemon Says 