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From: "Architexturez." <interface.services@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 20:47:18 +0530
Posted on Thursday, December 7, 2006. From “The Determination of Prayer
Times and Direction of the Qiblah in Space,” by Dr. Zainol Abidin Abdul
Rashid, a member of the engineering faculty of National University of
Malaysia. The paper was delivered at the Islam and Life in Space
conference last spring in Kuala Lumpur. Translated from the Malay by
Jessica Ramakrishnan. Originally from Harper's Magazine, November 2006.
Sources
As trips to space become commonplace, human civilization will no longer
be tied to the surface of the Earth. But Muslims, wherever they
are—whether on Earth or in space—are bound by duty to perform the
obligations of worship.
A Muslim who wants to travel must study the techniques of determining
prayer times and the direction of the Qiblah ahead of travel in order to
achieve complete worship. I will elaborate the method of determining
prayer times and Qiblah direction in space, primarily on the
International Space Station (ISS). The ISS is more than 200 miles from
the Earth’s surface and orbits the earth every ninety-two minutes, or
roughly sixteen times a day. Do we have to worship eighty times a day
(sixteen orbits a day multiplied by five prayer times)? This seems
unlikely, since it is compulsory for a Muslim to pray five times a day
according to an Earth day, as determined by Allah during the creation of
Heaven and Earth—no matter where in space the Muslim is located. As for
the Qiblah, for Muslims there is only one, the Kaaba, located in Mecca.
A Qiblah that changes in reference to a specific system is not in order!
It must be remembered that Allah’s creation is ordered.
cont'd....
http://harpers.org/GroundControlToMyImam.html