• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 618 4351
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

With 16 Sunsets A Day, How Do Muslim Astronauts Observe Ramadan In Space?

March 25, 2023 by Deborah Bloomfield

This week was the beginning of Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims around the world. And even out of this world. Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi is currently on the International Space Station (ISS) and this had many people wondering if, and how, the astronaut was going to observe the important period in the Islamic calendar.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and it is seen as a time of reflection, community, and prayer. It starts from the first sight of the crescent Moon to the next, as the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar. So this year it will roughly last from March 22 to April 23.

Advertisement

During that time, adults fast from dawn until dusk in their location, but on the ISS there are 16 sunrises and sunsets every day, so that doesn’t work in orbit. And imagine fasting on the Moon, where the sun stays in the sky for 14 days. 

The ISS is on Universal Coordinated Time, so that is the time that Al Neyadi can follow for starting the fast.

There are dispensations if fasting could affect a person’s physical or mental health, as well as if you are pregnant or if you are breastfeeding. Travelers can also be exempted and in a press conference in January, Al Neyadi stated that he falls into that category.

“Fasting is not compulsory if you’re feeling not well. So in that regard — anything that can jeopardize the mission or maybe put the crew member at risk — we’re actually allowed to eat sufficient food to prevent any escalation of lack of food or nutrition or hydration,” Al Neyadi said during the press conference.

Advertisement

Al Neyadi is part of Crew 6, together with NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. He is the first Emirati astronaut on a long-duration mission on the ISS, where he will conduct 19 experiments on topics from back pain to plant biology and material science. The first Emirati astronaut, Hazza Al Mansouri, was on the ISS for almost eight days in 2019.

In his six months around Earth, Al Neyadi will also celebrate Eid al-Fitr, at the end of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha, which will be celebrated in June/July. Al Neyadi mentioned that he’d be sharing some Emirati meals with his fellow astronauts.

There have been nine other Muslim men, apart from Al Neyadi and Al Mansouri, that have traveled to space, the first being prince Sultan bin Salman Al Saud in 1985. There had not been public discussion of how Muslims were to worship in space until Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, the first Malaysian astronaut, requested guidelines from Malaysia’s National Fatwa Council.

These were important to establish, especially when it came to the Qibla – the direction toward which Muslims pray, facing the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca – kneeling during the prayer, and washing. In microgravity, the direction is left to the astronauts’ best ability at the start of the prayer, kneeling is not compulsory, and a wet towel will suffice.

Advertisement

Religion in space is nothing new. The first Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon observed the Sabbath when he was on board the tragic last flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. Christmas is observed on the ISS and cosmonauts celebrate Orthodox Christmas, which takes place on January 7, as they still follow the Julian Calendar for religious celebrations. Buzz Aldrin, a Presbyterian, performed a communion service on the Moon. And for Catholics, the whole Moon is part of the dioceses of the Bishop of Orlando.  

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. 5 things you need to win your first customer
  2. Britain to say Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland are too harmful to retain
  3. Hearts From COVID-19 Patients Still Safe For Organ Transplant
  4. South Park Creators Use ChatGPT To Co-Write Episode About AI

Source Link: With 16 Sunsets A Day, How Do Muslim Astronauts Observe Ramadan In Space?

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Crocodiles Seen Reproducing Via “Virgin Birth” For First Time – No Male Required
  • The Tarot Card Riddle – Can You Solve It And Break The Ancient Curse?
  • Orcas Attack Boat Using More Extreme Tactic For First Time
  • Geologists Drilling Deep-Sea Hole Retrieve Deepest Earth Mantle Rocks Ever
  • “Lost World” Of Early Ancestors Revealed In Billion-Year-Old Fossilized Fat Molecules
  • Parker Solar Probe Finds The Source Of Fast Solar Wind Flurries
  • How Loser Synapses Get A “Punishment Signal” To Get Pruned Off
  • How To Treat Jellyfish Stings (Hint: Urine Not Recommended)
  • Derinkuyu: The Ancient Underground Cave City That Can House 20,000 People
  • The Man Who Got Stuck Inside A Cloud For 40 Horrific Minutes
  • Biggest Piece From World’s Largest Iceberg Destroyed In Notorious Iceberg Graveyard
  • Ukraine’s Dam Collapse May Be Europe’s Biggest Ecological Disaster In Decades
  • Video Shows Incredible Moment 7,000-Year-Old Rock Art Is Discovered Using Drones
  • Why Do Primates Masturbate So Much? Study Traces Origins Of Spanking The Monkey
  • Apple Is Adding A New iPhone Feature And It’s About Ducking Time
  • Nine Easy Steps You Can Take To Support Biodiversity If You Have A Garden
  • Big Claims Made For Burials And Engravings By Small-Brained Homo Naledi
  • Could Adding “Trust” And “Distrust” Buttons Be The Future Of Social Media?
  • Here Be Dragons: Did Maps Of Yore Really Warn Of Mythical Beasts?
  • Doctors Forced To Remove Patient’s Brain Implant After The Maker Went Bust
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 618 4351
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2023 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version