Umesh has sent you an article from the Middle East Times.
Umesh's comments:
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MUSLIM COUNTRIES URGED TO REACH FOR THE STARS
By AFP
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Muslim nations should embark on space programs to boost their international
standing and inspire their people, a conference of scholars and scientists
heard on Tuesday as Malaysia prepares to send its first citizen into orbit.
Some 150 muftis and scientists at the two-day seminar also pondered how
Muslim astronauts would pray in space, in the face of difficulties locating
Mecca and holding the prayer position in a zero-gravity environment.
"We are hopeful that the efforts by the Malaysian government will inspire
other Muslim countries to inaugurate space initiatives," said Saiyad Nizamuddin
Ahmad of the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
"We need to have some kind of inspiring example that comes from our own
Muslim world, not looking all the time to the US, England and European
countries," he said.
Malaysia's space program represents "the return of Islamic civilization to
being an active contributor to the advancement of science and technology", he
told the delegates.
The Malaysian Space Agency's director-general Mazlan Othman also said that
she hoped that other countries would be inspired by Malaysia, which held a
nationwide competition to select four would-be astronauts, three of them
Muslim.
Delegates at the seminar are also deliberating just how a Muslim astronaut
stationed on the International Space Station, which will circle the earth every
90 minutes, would pray five times a day as required in Islam.
"If Malaysia's first astronaut is a Muslim, then we have to prepare a
guideline on how they will perform prayers and other routines in space, which
will be a challenge," said science ministry official Ruddin Abdul Ghani.
Issues to be touched on include determining the direction of Mecca in
space, performing ablutions for prayers with water rationing, fasting and
preparing food according to Islamic standards.
"When you're in a zero-gravity environment, you're floating around and as
soon as you go into {italic} rukuk {/italic} [a prayer position], that motion
will project itself forward, and maybe you'll do a somersault or go into some
other direction. So you're going to have to be held down or something," said
Saiyad.
The four candidates are currently undergoing rigorous training and will
leave for Russia at the end of this month for three weeks of medical tests
after which Malaysia and Russia will select one astronaut and a back-up
candidate.
The pair will spend 18 months in training before Malaysia's first astronaut
blasts off in October 2007 for a 10-day mission aboard the International Space
Station.
The agreement for the Russians to send a Malaysian into space was part of a
billion-dollar deal to sell 18 Sukhoi 30-MKM fighter jets to Malaysia.
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This article was mailed from the Middle East Times
(http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060425-063144-4891r)
For more great articles, visit us at http://www.metimes.com
Copyright (c) 2006 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
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