On Oct 10, Malaysia's first astronaut, to be chosen from Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, 34, and Dentist Dr Faiz Khaleed, 26, both of whom are Muslims
and currently undergoing training in Russia, will blast off to ISS board a Soyuz aircraft that will take off from the Rocket Launch Centre at Baikonur Cosmodone, Kazakhstan.
Malaysian Islamic authority--Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) has unveiled a 20-page booklet that rules on how to pray, wash, die and eat in space, with a hope that the country's first astronaut will choose to fast on the fasting month of Ramadan. During Ramadan, Muslims are required to abstain from food and sex from sunrise to sunset.
Excerpts from the the AFP report are an interesting reading:
"Conditions at the International Space Station which are so different from those on earth are not a hindrance for the astronaut to fulfil his obligations as a Muslim," it said in a 20-page booklet.
"In difficult conditions, Islam has conveniences to ensure that religious worship can still be performed."
Because the space station circles the Earth 16 times a day, theoretically a Muslim would have to pray 80 times a day while staying there.
But the guidelines stipulate that the astronaut need only pray five times a day, just as on Earth, and that the times should follow the location where the spacecraft blasted off from -- in this case, Baikonur in Russia.
In the unlikely event the Muslim astronaut dies in space, the religious directives said his body should be brought back to Earth for the usual burial rituals. If that's not possible, he should be "interred" in Space after a brief ceremony, though the guidelines failed to explain how that should be done.
The booklet covers Islamic washing rituals required before prayer, saying that if water is not available the astronaut can symbolically "sweep holy dust" onto the face and hands "even if there is no dust" in the space station.
There are also suggestions on how to pray in a zero-gravity environment.
"During the prayer ritual, if you can't stand up straight, you can hunch. If you can't stand, you can sit. If you can't sit, you should lie down," according to the booklet.
Muslims are required to eat food that is halal, which rules out pork and its by-products, alcohol and animals not slaughtered according to Koranic procedures are forbidden -- but again in Space there is flexibility.
"If it is doubtful that the food has been prepared in the halal manner, you should eat just enough to ward off hunger," the booklet said.