Islam is not difficult. When I was teaching at the Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), most of my students-if not all-were amazed when I remarked that Muslims are not to pray when traveling long distances on airplanes; that Muslim surgeons may choose to combine (jama’) their prayers if they are working long hours in operation theatres; and that Muslims from all walks of life may also choose to combine their prayers for reasons other than those mentioned by the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w).
Now we have successfully launched our first Malaysian, a Muslim, to outer space. Proud of the achievement, I was and still am amazed to learn that this Muslim traveller was made to assume that prayers throughout his 10-day stay hundred kilometers above earth was obligatory! What was even more amazing was a special manual for his extra-terrestrial journey had been prepared.
All this may have given the impression that the religion of Islam is rigid, uncompassionate and coercive in nature. The reality, however, is quite the opposite.
I still hold firm to what I taught my students a few years ago. If the requirement for prayer is relaxed for long distance journeys on airlines, what more a journey to space! Make no mistake, I am not to be classified as a liberal, conservative, extremist, secularist and such.
The Noble Qur’an states: “Verily prayers are enjoined on Believers at fixed times” (al-Nisa’, 4: 103). The key-term here is the phrase ‘fixed time’ (Arabic: kitaban mauquta). Indeed, Muslims are duty bound to pray five times a day at specific durations. And Muslim scholars have done enough to calculate and determine these times respectively, whether using the traditional method of measuring the length of a shadow cast by the sun on a pole, or applying a more accurate measurement in the application of the astronomical science.
In every case, be it prayers at dawn (fajr/subh), midday (zuhr), late afternoon (‘asr), dusk (maghrib), or evening (‘isya’), these prayer times are measured and determined by the movement/motion of the earth around sun. For example, while Muslims in East Java, Indonesia, perform dawn prayers at about 4.15 a.m. (local time), Muslims in Malaysia do the same at about 5.40 a.m. Obviously, the determining factor here is not the hands of a clock but rather the movement of the earth as it rotates along its axis relative to the sun.
Many seem unaware of the fact that the question of ‘fixed time’ is only relevant to our lives on earth. If we are no longer on earth, then the question of prayer times becomes no longer relevant. The question of time in relation to prayer is only relative to man on earth. In space however, since man is no longer on earth, time in relation to prayer does not apply. The revolution of the earth upon its axis relative to the sun excludes man, for which prayer is obligatory. Man in space is not traveling at the same speed as is the revolution of the earth along its axis.
Religious duties are very much associated with one’s location. If one were to travel from one place to another, his/her religious obligations are performed relative to the peculiarities of his/her new destination the moment he/she reaches that place. If a Malaysian Muslim usually performs his prayers relative to the times in Malaysia, he/she must abandon this practice once he crosses the border to Thailand as the times are no longer relative to Malaysia. It is absurd to insist to pray according to the time in Kuala Lumpur while being physically in Bangkok. This Muslim has now to follow the times relative to Bangkok in carrying out his religious duties.
Therefore, it is absurd to argue that a spaceman may apply the time of his place of departure in order for him to carry out obligatory religious duties in a place not relative to earth.
Another example concerns an analogy of air travel. When one flies a long distance, he traverses different time zones. Take, for example, the Kuala Lumpur-London route, represents a more than 12 hour journey covering a distance of more than 10,000 km over a vast body of ocean and land. The flight will have to traverse through seven different time zones. If one departs KLIA at 12.50 p.m., at a speed of over 800 km/h, 15 minutes after take off, the aircraft will be over the ocean, followed by land, mountains, desert and so on.
Supposing the traveler wishes to pray zuhr. As the plane traverses different time zones every 30 minutes, which time will he need to follow? Is it the time relative to Malaysia, the ocean, India or Saudi Arabia? It may not be zuhr in India although it may be in Kuala Lumpur. Why do the Muslims of today feel the need to complicate matters when Islam is easy and simple? Even if one is heading for Mekkah to perform the pilgrimage, in this situation, the question of prayer during the journey by air seems absurd. We have already said that prayer during flight is unnecessary, what more prayer in outer space
The time factor in this realm is relative to man in space. But as we have said, time for prayer is relative to man on earth; and therefore if man is not on Earth, prayer in relation to time on earth does not apply to him.
My point is that Islam is easy, pragmatic and dynamic; it is neither rigid nor extreme. The Muslims, regardless of their social or economic status, from among the royals, political leaders, corporate figures, executives, professionals, academics, administrators, and so on who have to spend hours in long meetings or other extended commitments, surgeons who sacrifice their time to save human lives in hours of medical operations, those having difficulty in the workplace, even night market traders, the solution(s) for their preoccupation/predicament is there within Islam itself if they truly understand and not fall victim to a very narrow interpretation of religion. As far as combining the prayers, I believe many have been applying and practicing this new interpretation/method on many occasions prior to the modern era.
NOTE:
I warmly welcome any academic comments on this article.Please write to me at: [email protected].I will make amendment if necessary.
