When you're in orbit, which way is Mecca?

Zor · Post by **Zor** » 2006-04-24 12:13am

I saw this crapload comming. If a Rabbai said that NYC Tapwater is Unkosher because of Clam and Crab Larva, making a stink about this takes me by no suprise.

Generally i just assume that they would just do the Honorverse Thing on Days and set that Days that Muhammed spoke of in the Koran are T-Days, as well a Muslim in one of my classes a while back said that they don't have to sniper in on Mecca, just point in the general direction it.

Zor

Metatwaddle · Post by **Metatwaddle** » 2006-04-24 02:09am

Wicked Pilot wrote:How would the women astronaughts handle zero G? Wouldn't their burkas float up exposing their naughty regions?

What, you think Muslim countries will let women be astronauts?

Metatwaddle · Post by **Metatwaddle** » 2006-04-24 02:11am

Ghetto edit: Damn. Kheegan and JD seem to have beaten me to the punch.

R. U. Serious · Post by **R. U. Serious** » 2006-04-24 05:58am

Discombobulated wrote:What, you think Muslim countries will let women be astronauts?

I don't know what your definition of "muslim country" is, but Turkey which has a big majority of muslims had the right to to vote for women, before several european countries introduced it. Turkey also had a female president earlier than a lot of european countries. I don't see why the concept of female austronauts from muslim countries sounds strange to you.

Old Plympto · Post by **Old Plympto** » 2006-04-24 07:35am

Discombobulated wrote:What, you think Muslim countries will let women be astronauts?

Well, the director-general of Space Science Studies division of the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry of Malaysia is a Muslim woman.

Metatwaddle · Post by **Metatwaddle** » 2006-04-24 02:28pm

I worded that imprecisely. I was more thinking of the Middle Eastern countries that have some form of Sharia law in their government.

Good on Turkey and Malaysia, though.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2006-04-24 03:02pm

Edi wrote: Because she said the teachings about it are so strict that you can't get around them by e.g. applying the sunrise/sunset times of a more southerly latitude.

And this is why Islam did not spread that far after it's inital period of conquest until the oil money started subsidizing mosques and propaganda; the religion is so ass-backwards; it's literally a 7th century desert raider religion; Christanity didn't let strict literalism get in the way of converting Europe;

"we'll make Jesus get born on the winter solstice to convert pagans!"
"we'll make Jesus rise again on the spring solstice to convert pagans!"

Lord Zentei · Post by **Lord Zentei** » 2006-04-24 03:18pm

MKSheppard wrote:"we'll make Jesus get born on the winter solstice to convert pagans!"
"we'll make Jesus rise again on the spring solstice to convert pagans!"

Spring Equinox.

Incidentally, Islam was pretty progressive during the latter half of the low middle ages, ca. 800-1100. It's thanks to them that much of the knowledge of the ancients was preserved. It was only during the high middle ages and later that they became anti progressive.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2006-04-26 02:12am

I have heard that when praying onboard a ship, train or any moving craft one does not have to know for sure which way is Mecca. Any direction is fine. It is not necessary to face Mecca because it is just a formality. For muslims what counts is being devoted enough to pray. In orbit the same rule can apply. That is assuming a muslim astronaut will pray at all of course. I do not know about other countries but in Bangladesh finding someone who regularly prays is no easy task.

Wicked Pilot wrote:How would the women astronaughts handle zero G? Wouldn't their burkas float up exposing their naughty regions?

It is unlikely anyone educated enough to be an astronaut will be wearing a burka unless they come from a place like Saudi Arabia or Iran. Even if they are wearing burkas they will probably be wearing jeans pants underneath like the conservative girls in my class.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-04-26 02:27am

Sarevok wrote:Even if they are wearing burkas they will probably be wearing jeans pants underneath like the conservative girls in my class.

I see that as well among religious girls in Israel, nobody wears just skirts anymore, thats just asking for the wind to come. Everyone wears jeans under.

Lord Zentei · Post by **Lord Zentei** » 2006-04-26 07:18am

Sarevok wrote:I have heard that when praying onboard a ship, train or any moving craft one does not have to know for sure which way is Mecca. Any direction is fine. It is not necessary to face Mecca because it is just a formality. For muslims what counts is being devoted enough to pray. In orbit the same rule can apply. That is assuming a muslim astronaut will pray at all of course. I do not know about other countries but in Bangladesh finding someone who regularly prays is no easy task.

Approximately facing Mecca when in orbit shouldn't bee too hard: just face the Earth, and that should be good enough.

What's more problematic is the prescribed times. One could argue for using the times as are appropriate for the ground directly under the ship, but it moves so fast that this would be impractical. Far more logical to base it on the activity cycle of the ship in question, and assume an equatorial lattitude (as this is the "average" lattitude of any orbiting object).

bilateralrope · Post by **bilateralrope** » 2006-04-26 07:30am

Well, how hard would it be to build a moterised arm to keep you pointing at Mecca should pointing at earth not be enougn ?

Akhlut · Post by **Akhlut** » 2006-04-26 01:45pm

Lord Zentei wrote:Incidentally, Islam was pretty progressive during the latter half of the low middle ages, ca. 800-1100. It's thanks to them that much of the knowledge of the ancients was preserved. It was only during the high middle ages and later that they became anti progressive.

I thought it wasn't until the 1600s that the Muslim world started to backslide. The Ottomans and Safavids were both gunpowder empires and were the Ottomans were relatively progressive with things until the 1600s.

And it really wasn't until the 1800s that strictly anti-Western/anti-modern movements formed (not too surprising, really, considering that's when the major colonization of Ottoman territories by the French and British, and British colonization of India, Persia, and the Indonesian islands).

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2006-04-27 07:39am

Approximately facing Mecca when in orbit shouldn't bee too hard: just face the Earth, and that should be good enough.

What's more problematic is the prescribed times. One could argue for using the times as are appropriate for the ground directly under the ship, but it moves so fast that this would be impractical. Far more logical to base it on the activity cycle of the ship in question, and assume an equatorial lattitude (as this is the "average" lattitude of any orbiting object).

Good point ! The problem is even more complicated since prayer times are not actually measured by hours on the clock. Each of the five prescribed times for praying are determined by the position of the sun in the sky. If I recall correctly low orbital flights such as the space shuttle place an astronaut in sun light for mere 90 minutes before the spacecraft reaches the night side of Earth. If an astronaut is going to pray five times according to the regular prayer schedule he is not going to have any time left for useful work ! A muslim astronaut has to either quit praying due to excuse of being in space or pretend he is somewhere on Earth and follow a 24 hour schedule for praying.