I was wondering today, though, how a Muslim astronaut would determine which way to face. Actually, I suspect that figuring out the quibla from a given spot in orbit wouldn’t be much more difficult than figuring it out from a given spot on earth – you’re just dealing with a bigger sphere, and a downward slope.
But what if people were to settle other planets? How impractical would it be to figure out the way to Mecca from, say, Mars, or one of Jupiter’s moons?
And how precise does the direction have to be? If I were light years from earth, it may be easy to figure out the general location of earth in the sky, turning just a hair to one side or the other would mean missing the correct location by millions of miles.
(In case it doesn’t come across this way, I’m not trying to be flip – I really don’t know a) how difficult facing Mecca from space would be, and b) how accurate the direction needs to be from a religious perspective. Is a good effort good enough?)
Minor nitpick: it would appear that the first Muslim in space was actually Muhammed Faris, a Syrian cosmonaut who went up to Soyuz with the Soviets in 1987. Prince Sultan Salman-al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, who I think scratch1300 was referring to, didn’t blast off until two years later.
There’s a big display in Damascus celebrating Faris and his mission, including the re-entry vehicle used on the flight. I walked away from it with the impression that Faris’ presence was less about providing his expertise to the Soviets and more about promoting USSR-Middle East ties in the waning days of communism.