Posted on 04/21/2006 11:46:49 AM PDT by blam
When you're in orbit, which way is Mecca?
12:14 21 April 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Kelly Young
Dan Bursch, Yuri Onufrienko and Carl Walz pose with their Christmas tree aboard the International Space Station in 2001 (Image: NASA)
Malaysia's National Space Agency is trying to determine how its astronaut candidates will practice Islam in space. Three of its four astronaut candidates are Muslim, and two will be selected for a future Russian space flight.
Once in their orbiting spacecraft, they will circle the Earth once every 90 minutes. Traditionally, Muslims pray five times per day, at times connected to the position of the Sun in the sky. This will make prayer observance a challenge if they accept a "day" as being just 90 minutes long.
A similar problem occurs for Muslims who live close to Earth's polar regions where there are long periods of daylight or darkness. Islamic legal scholars traditionally say that in such situations, a Muslim should pray as they would at a particular, relatively high latitude, even if they venture nearer the poles.
"Any legal scholar advising these astronauts would have to simply pick various times that would roughly correspond to their morning, noon, afternoon, sunset and night prayers," says Alan Godlas, a professor of religion at the University of Georgia, US.
Minor ablutions
Additionally, Muslims turn toward Mecca when they pray. Zooming around the Earth at 28,000 kilometres per hour might make pinpointing the exact location of Mecca pretty tricky. Godlas says that orienting oneself toward Earth might be good enough. "There are instances where the prophet indicated a wide swathe; kind of a general direction," Godlas says.
And Muslims have a cleansing ritual, known as ablutions, before prayer. But water is used sparingly in space. Godlas says astronauts could force water between their two hands and then moisten the body during a minor ablution.
On Earth, it is ideal to have water running along the arms from the faucet, but water does not flow downward in microgravity. Godlas says that when water is not available, scholars have determined a pure rock could be used to wipe the hands. The hands could then clean the forearms, face and feet.
Saudi Arabian astronaut Sultan Salman Al-Saud flew aboard the shuttle in 1985. He was scheduled to look out the shuttle's window to see the crescent of the new moon to mark the end of the Muslim religious holiday, Ramadan.
Electric menorah
About 150 scientists, astronauts, religious scholars and academics are expected to gather in Malaysia on 25 and 26 April for an "Islam and Life in Space" seminar.
People have found ways to celebrate other religions above Earth. Israel's first astronaut Ilan Ramon, who died in the shuttle Columbia accident, was not a religious Jew, but he ate some Kosher food aboard the shuttle and observed the Jewish Sabbath. But rather than observing Sabbath every seventh sundown, Ramon followed the timings on Earth.
Walter Sipes, chief of operational psychology at NASA's Johnson Space Center, says that a menorah (a Jewish candle holder) has not yet been requested for a long mission aboard the space station. It might be possible to send a menorah with little electric bulbs, he says.
Streaming religion
Christianity has had a long history in space. Of the 29 Apollo astronauts, 23 were Protestant and six were Catholic.
Buzz Aldrin, a Presbyterian, gave himself Holy Communion once his lunar lander touched down on the Moon. And while circling the Moon during the Apollo 8 mission, Frank Borman apologised to his Episcopal congregation because he would not make it back to Earth in time to be a lay reader on Christmas Eve. Borman and his crew did read from the book of Genesis.
Now, if astronauts request it, NASA can send up streaming video of religious services. There is also a Christmas tree on the International Space Station. "For some, religion is very comforting and we certainly want to respect that," Sipes told New Scientist.
My comments obviously do not apply to any terrorist, or any terrorist supporter or sympathizer. That person's religion, or their version of it, I can easily learn to hate.
He helped you get into grad school and his wife?
Damn! I wish I'd had professors like that when I was in college.
But I also no my history and I know that when some of my ancestors were forced to choose between expulsion, conversion, or death by Christian Spain, 500 years ago, it was the Muslim Ottoman Empire, who gave them refuge.
8>)
Dang missing comma.
And he still has to figure out where "Mecca" is every time!
This would almost be funny if I didn't think some Mullah would be waiting on him at splashdown to cut his head off.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!
Yeah, you're right. All I know about the so-called "religion of peace" is what I saw on Sept. 11, 2001, the Nick Berg video, the school children in Russia, the failure of most of the rest of the Muslim world to publicly condemn those responsible for Muslim violence, etc. Need I go on? Naw, just re-read my last phrase until it begins to sink in.
All you know is what you've seen on TV - huh. No wonder you're so narrow minded.
If only you'd visited Madrid, or London, or Bali, or Israel, or Holland in the last few years.
Then you'd have a better understanding of the 'Religion of Peace'.
Seriously folks, I understand that you can't judge all of the members of a religion by the actions of a few, but when the kids in my family, misbehave, I expect the other members of the family to stop them.
Anybody listening in Mecca?
Where is the denouncement against these acts by the few?
Where is the action to stop them? Until other Islamists take action to stop these horrors, we cannot determine who are our friends and who are our enemies. In WWII there was an entire unit of Japanese American soldiers who fought bravely and well in Europe for the United States. The only Muslim I've heard in our military about rolled a grenade into a tent
Once again, what you "heard of" is not the sum total of reality. Obviously there are other moslems serving in the Armed Forces.
DOWN!!??
It's in California too! In the desert.
Name one
You've used my bit of hyperbole to set up a strawman to knock .... the premise being that I only know what I've heard, and that of course there are muslims in the military... well... name one.
I can give you medal of honor winners for Japanese Americans in World War II...
http://www.njamf.com/remember.htm
Name for me either:
1. A prominent Muslim American spokesperson who has spoken out against the radicals
2. A muslim unit in the American Army which is fighting terrorists...
You get extra points for both, but I'll bet that you can't name either.
In which case, my argument remains true... the only Muslim in the Army that has been in the news was the the one who attempted to kill his fellow soldiers.
Put up time, snide one.
But whether I'm being snide, insulting or anything else, I don't really know how you can be so stupid as to say there was only one moslem in the service because that's the one you heard about on tv. Frankly, I am not especially aware of Jews, Christians, Hindus, or any other group in the military. But if one of them commits a crime I will not assume that is the only one. We have moslems in the service, we have moslem allies throughout the world. That is reality.
Williams -
You're still hung up on the trivia - manfully trying to twist one statement, while ignoring my argument. The point is, and was,
Where is the visible symbol of Muslim-American patriotism? You accuse me of making assumptions while making your own. You accuse me of saying that they're all bad, but you - without offering any proof - assume they're all good
I've shown where, in WWII, the Japanese-Americans made a dramatically visible effort to show their loyalty. I asked you to some me some demonstration of a similar effort by Muslims... I'm still waiting... until then, my assumptions - with ONE example of a negative - have more statistical probability than your assumptions with zero examples....
Simple, eh? Show me your examples of Muslim-American patriotism.... don't bother with more assumptions... Why, for example is a Muslim Chaplin in the Navy a symbol of patriotism?
http://cayankee.blogs.com/cayankee/2005/09/imam_resigns_as.html
Links, please. tick, tick, tick...... I'm weary of this argument, and don't wish to carry it farther, but your assumptions that my assumptions are wrong, are unproven, and your casual sweeps of the hand with nothing to back them up are irritating.....
Williams -
You're still hung up on the trivia - manfully trying to twist one statement, while ignoring my argument. The point is, and was,
Where is the visible symbol of Muslim-American patriotism? You accuse me of making assumptions while making your own. You accuse me of saying that they're all bad, but you - without offering any proof - assume they're all good
I've shown where, in WWII, the Japanese-Americans made a dramatically visible effort to show their loyalty. I asked you to some me some demonstration of a similar effort by Muslims... I'm still waiting... until then, my assumptions - with ONE example of a negative - have more statistical probability than your assumptions with zero examples....
Simple, eh? Show me your examples of Muslim-American patriotism.... don't bother with more assumptions... Why, for example is a Muslim Chaplin in the Navy a symbol of patriotism?
http://cayankee.blogs.com/cayankee/2005/09/imam_resigns_as.html
Links, please. tick, tick, tick...... I'm weary of this argument, and don't wish to carry it farther, but your assumptions that my assumptions are wrong, are unproven, and your casual sweeps of the hand with nothing to back them up are irritating.....
I responded, initially, to childish posts about finding Mercca by the smell,etc. And yes, Saudi Arabia is also our ally, has been for decades, and is absolutely essential to Western stability and the war on terror.
And further, what evidence do you have that three Malaysian astronauts are terrorist sympathizers who should be mocked for trying to practice their religion, just as our astronauts have done?
Let's try patriotism and logic but not blind hatred.
Please get back to me with evidence that the modern US Military organizes units by any religion, race, etc? Hopefully you know we don't create black units any longer.
Cheap shot and a waste of time, Williams.
You continue to evade the point, and it's obvious that you'll continue to.
Since you'll deny that, I'll reiterate.....
Where is the visible demonstration of American Muslim rejection of the tactics and objectives of the terrorists....?
However, this conversation is over. I've no desire to descend into a flame war with you... and you've nothing substantive to add to the discussion in any case but you assumptions and feelings.
As far as outer space is concerned, Uranus would probably offer a direct line of sight to Mecca.
Pedophiles, Satanic worshippers, and mass murdering Nazis can be as nice as Doris Day. That doesn't mean we want them in leadership positions for what has been (historically) a Christian nation.
OK well I guess you have decided that you hate moslems, period. I feel sorry for you because you are not seeing reality. I know moslems personally who are decent god fearing people holding responsible jobs, and who are I assure you not pedophiles, satan worshippers or mass murderers. Get some perspective. Jew don't have horns either. It's a very safe feeling to have an immature one dimensional view of the world, but it is not reality.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.