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UAE Clerics' Fatwa Forbids Muslims From Traveling To Mars

Posted by timothy on from the limited-jurisdiction dept.

PolygamousRanchKid writes "The Khaleej Times of Dubai reports that a fatwa committee has forbidden Muslims from taking a one-way trip to the Red Planet. At the moment, there is no technology available that would allow for a return trip from Mars, so it is truly a one-way ticket for the colonists, who may also become reality TV stars in the process. The committee of the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment in the United Arab Emirates that issued the fatwa against such a journey doesn't have anything against space exploration, Elon Musk's Mars visions, or anything like that. Rather, the religious leaders argue that making the trip would be tantamount to committing suicide, which all religions tend to frown upon."

2 of 363 comments (clear)

  1. Buddhism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "the trip would be tantamount to committing suicide, which all religions tend to frown upon."

    Hey get your Judeocentric religious world views out of here! Buddhism goes so far as to feature a story of the Buddha himself committing suicide just to feed some hungry tiger cubs.

    Which is insane like all religions, but I reserve the right for their insanity to be characterized accurately!

  2. Shouldn't he issue a Fatwa against Smoking? by Mr_Wisenheimer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    After all, Tobacco leads to the premature death of most people who use it.

    I always thought of suicide as the act of killing yourself just for the sake of killing yourself. While one might call something a "suicide mission", that is not the same as suicide, is it? If a soldier stays behind to man a turret in the face of certain death to provide covering fire so his comrades can escape, is he committing suicide?