Dubai Mufti reasserts fatwa on one-way trip to Mars

Once again the promoting or being involved in a one-way trip to the Red Planet was strongly condemned by the Grand Mufti of Dubai Dr Ahmed Al Haddad on Tuesday. The move has been declared as prohibited in Islam, and is a kind of annihilation for not a single rational benefit or Shariah-compliant reason. Denouncing the trip Dr Haddad called such a trip null, void, baseless, useless, unreasonable, and a rebellion against God’s rules of the universe.

The fatwa is in response to a request raised by Netherlands-based trip organiser, Mars One, for recalling a similar ruling issued by a committee under the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment in the UAE.

Late in April 2013, the Dutch company, invited volunteers to fly and live on Mars by 2023, but promised no return ticket because there is no technology so far that would enable a return trip from Mars to Earth. Thousands, including hundreds of Arabs applied for the first-of-its-kind adventure.

“Such a one-way expedition poses a risk to life, and can never be justified,” the committee said. “There is a possibility that an individual who travels to Mars may not be able to remain alive there, and shall be more liable to death.”

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Dr Haddad said humans do not own themselves. Rather, they are owned by Almighty Allah, the Creator who is free to manage their life and death as He wishes, and to Him is the return of all humans for judgment.

“People are not permitted to risk their life even if expecting little harm, as forbidden in verse 195/2 of the Holy Quran that says ‘And do not throw (yourselves) with your (own) hands into destruction’, and verse 29/4 ‘And do not kill yourselves (or one another). Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful’.”

Dr Haddad underscored that such an undeniable rule has been agreed upon by all heavenly religions and laws, and is one of the five major top priorities of all faiths.

“Mars expected colonists shall be unable to come back to the earth which Allah has made an expanse, a resting place, and a container for children of Adam where they live, settle, and die.”

Allah has created the planet Mars for a reason He only knows and made it livable for a specific life other than ours, as stated in verse 38 and 39/44: ‘We did not create the heaven and earth and that between them in play. We did not create them except in truth, but most of them do not know’, he added.

The Grand Mufti of Dubai said a human being, who has been created from clay, and shall return to it, and resurrect from it, is in harmony with the earth, and shall not be able to live on another planet he/she is in not in unison with at all.

“Astronauts need very special stuff to survive in the space for limited periods, and then come back to earth. What about those who shall not be able to return and are well aware of that fact? What kind of life they shall be leading therein?”

Warning, Dr Haddad said such a trip is against human beings who have been honoured by Allah who has given human beings generations succeeding one another on this wide Earth, and determined their sustenance and whatever good for them herein. “So, how may they logically seek another planet to settle in?”

Astronauts invade the space to impart what they learn to us, and tell people about the earth’s bounties and stockpiles, he said. “Otherwise, those expected Mars inhabitants shall not bring any benefit to themselves or others. Thus, their mission is null, void, baseless, useless, and unreasonable by all means.”

Dr Haddad indicated that Allah has made children of Adam His successors on earth, not on any other planet as stipulated in verse 30/2 of the Quran: ‘Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority,’. Verse 61/11 says: ‘He has produced you from the earth and settled you in it,’ and according to verse 115/23: ‘Then did you think that We created you uselessly and that to Us you would not be returned?’

“Therefore, any attempt to change this undisputed fact is a rebellion against God’s rules of the universe who said in verse 64/40 of the Quran: ‘It is Allah who made for you the Earth a place of settlement and the sky a ceiling and formed you and perfected your forms and provided you with good things.’

The Grand Mufti of Dubai said it is the duty of all human rights watchdogs, all countries, and the United Nations to prevent such a chaos, deviance, and definite manipulation.

“Such an issue, I believe, is one that requires extensive research from scholars, astronomers, scientists concerned, and even international Fiqh (jurisprudence) academies, to come up with a collective fatwa.”

ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com