It is often fun to dip in and see what this week’s daftest Islamic Fatwa is. You can always be sure that whenever you find a truly odd one and think “Nothing could possibly be weirder than this” then inevitably some cleric will pop up the very next week and prove you quite wrong about that.
Side Note: The intent here is not to mock all Muslims, most of whom are decent, honourable, and sensible. Instead we are simply laughing at some of the truly bizarre fringe clerics who articulate some deeply weird claims.
So this week we have more updates on MARS, and yes, I mean the planet, because apparently, according to some, it is un-islamic to go there.
Not too long ago Sheikh Ali al Hemki declared that the very idea of a trip to Mars was haram …
The Ah Hayat newspaper quotes him as saying the mission does not conform to “responsible Muslim” practices.
“These experiments will lead to the destruction of those who try,” and so should be done with animals, not people,” he said.
Can it get any weirder?
Yes it can.
A rather silly Egyptian cleric realised that Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, and not just one. This is a huge problem for those that strive to strictly follow a lunar calendar. His truly daft rhetoric in response to this realisation was this …
“It is a Jewish conspiracy, the western folk have added a second moon to ensure that Muslims can’t go to Mars, but the joke is on them, we’re not interested to begin with”
Seriously!
He actually thinks that a Jewish conspiracy arranged for Mars to have a second moon simply to stop Muslims going there.
Is this the extreme limit of complete and utter lunacy (remember 2 moons not just one to ensure a bit of extra “lunacy”). Nobody could possibly come out with anything even weirder … right?
Wrong.
As reported by Pakistan Today …
Another set of Muslim scholars are now also offering an opposite fatwa: “All alien species on Mars are not Muslim, hence haram!” This fatwa was realized after the discovery of water on the red planet made headlines. “If there is water, then there is life there and if there is life there then it must submit to Allah,” explained another cleric from Egypt. The fatwa is meant to help encourage Muslims to wage jihad against the red planet till every last living species has accepted the true faith of God.
To be honest, I’m not sure the use of the word “scholar” is appropriate if the end-result consists of such declarations.
To finish, I think the martins should have the last word on all of this …
Yes, I’m not taking any of this seriously, and neither should you.