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A fatwa by an Emirati religious authority has warned that such a trip is prohibited according to Islam.
As ads promising a one-way trip to the red planet continue to woo Muslims, a fatwa by an Emirati religious authority has warned that such a trip is prohibited according to Islam, as it threatens lives for no righteous reason.
“Such a one-way journey poses a real risk to life, and that can never be justified in Islam,” a fatwa committee under the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment said in a statement cited by Khaleej Times on Wednesday, February 19.
“There is a possibility that an individual who travels to planet Mars may not be able to remain alive there, and is more vulnerable to death.”
Announcement for a one-way trip to Mars has first appeared last April 2013.
The ads were made by Mars One, a Dutch company, which invited volunteers to fly and live on the Red Planet, without offering a technology so far that would enable a return trip from Mars to Earth.
The company is planning the first such trip to Mars in 2023 and another crew every two years afterwards with the goal of establishing a permanent human colony.
It allows applicants aged between 18 and 40 years who are in good physical condition.
With only $38 for the trip, thousands of volunteers, including some 500 Saudis and other Arabs, have reportedly applied for the mission which costs $6 billion.
“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 Qur’an: Do not kill yourselves or one another. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful,” the committee, presided by Professor Dr Farooq Hamada, said
Whoever opts for this “hazardous trip”, the committee said, is likely to perish for no “righteous reason”, and thus will be liable to a “punishment similar to that of suicide in the Hereafter”.
Escaping Judgment Day
The committee warned that those travelers to Mars would not escape punishment or standing before Almighty Allah for judgment, as some young Muslims might think.
“This is an absolutely baseless and unacceptable belief because not even an atom falls outside the purview of Allah, the Creator of everything,” the fatwa committee said.
“This has also been clearly underscored in verse 19&20/93 of the Holy Qur’an in which Allah says: There is no one in the heavens and earth but that he comes to the Most Merciful as a servant. (Indeed) He has enumerated them and counted them a (full) counting.”
Islamic researcher Dr Shaikh Mohammed Al Ashmawy, shared a similar opinion.
“Almighty Allah said in verse 2/195 in the Holy Quran: Do not throw yourselves with your own hands into destruction.”
Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf, Imam of the Amena mosque, said: “Man’s life is not his or her own property; it is God’s creation, and therefore suicide is prohibited in all religions, and of course by law.”
Suicide is prohibited in Islam, and is considered a criminal offence with punitive laws in almost entire Muslim world.
Muslims believe that the Day of Judgment will occur at a fixed point in time in the future. The exact time is known only to God.
http://onislam.net/english/news/middle-east/469405-islam-prohibits-mars-trips-uae-fatwa.html
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