You may be wondering why anyone would want to take a one-way trip to Mars, and honestly I wonder that myself. However, Dutch company Mars One plans to do just that, and they received over 200,000 applicants vying to take the trip. In December of 2013 the group was paired down to 1058 candidates. If there are any Muslim candidates they may now want to reconsider.
Reportedly, around 500 Saudis and other Arabs applied for the Mars One mission. The fatwa committee believes that some of them may be fleeing to Mars to escape punishment from Almighty Allah. However, the committee says not even traveling to Mars will allow one to escape Almighty Allah's judgment. They say, "This is an absolutely baseless and unacceptable belief because not even an atom falls outside the purview of Allah, the Creator of everything."Okay then. But here's the kicker that makes the whole thing suspect.
Professor Dr. Farooq Hamada, who presides over the fatwa committee, shared the motivation for issuing the fatwa: "Protecting life against all possible dangers and keeping it safe is an issue agreed upon by all religions and is clearly stipulated in verse 4/29 of the Holy Quran: Do not kill yourselves or one another. Indeed, Allah is to you ever merciful."Let's look at that in slow motion. Do.....not....kill....yourselves....or....one....another....
Seems good in theory, but the application of verse 4/29 has been spotty, to say the least, for anyone who has been following current events since, say 700 AD.
Fatwa or not, I am a little too fond of good old mother earth for a one-way trip to a barren red planet. Sorry Mars One, but I will monitor your progress from the comfort and safety of my comfy earthbound couch.Read more here.
12 comments:
So if Allah's force field starts to peter-out the further his subjects get from Earth that would make him a pretty puny god. The folks on the other side of the Milky Way (and that's only one galaxy in an ocean of galaxies) those folks must say "What Allah? Never heard of him." Quite the mystery then why our best and brightest are so afraid of Allah and unprompted bow down to Allah's reps. Mystery solved! Our best and brightest don't have GAWD in them.
Mars, Muslim-free since 2014!
They'd never get past Spock anywho.
The general point makes sense. A one-way trip to Mars is just an exciting form of suicide, and suicide is (hold your laughter, please) forbidden by Islam just like it is by Christianity.
Maybe there could be a special dispensation for driving a suicide space ship over there. Seventy two Martian virgins await. Get crackin'.
So this means we won't need the TSA on Mars, right?
Mars One says that they would like to keep their opportunity open to Muslims.
Did we learn anything from Genesis?
I'd go for a one way trip provided my husband gets to go with me and the plans are a little bit more... colonistic... than what Mars One is talking about.
There's a difference, really, between going there to *live* and going there to *die*.
No doubt the first residents of Mars will be water miners.
There's a difference, really, between going there to *live* and going there to *die*.
Well, not at our current level of technology...
Mars is so inhospitable -- freezing, bathed in deadly radiation, etc. -- that if I had my druthers I wouldn't stop at Mars. The moons of Jupiter or Saturn aren't really any less hospitable and there's a lot more variety!
Did we learn anything from Genesis?
Yes, we did. Namely that if a bunch of Jews show up and want to circumcise all your adult males to make them Jewish, DON'T DO IT!
Seriously, the Book of Genesis is the worst PR for any religious group ever.
I have it on good authority that Martians don't believe in Allah.
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