I am not a Muslim but I do believe the answer is that all Muslims pray towards Mecca (which is in the East), so if they were in space they would still just pray towards the same place, regardless of where it would be on a compass.
While in orbit the praying position would constantly change as you go about the trajectory. It’d be like travelling in a Emirates flight, where video screens always display a discreet arrow pointing the current direction of Mecca, albeit a bit faster.
The issue for Mo is what you would do in ‘deep’ space, where the concept of cardinal points become meaningless. On a more positive note, it would be impossible mooning Mecca 5 times a day because you are not on a sphere. So, what to do? Go to space and be unable to pray towards Mecca or stay on planet Earth and keep on mooning Mecca?? Like Mo said: “Better keep that one quietâ€Â
Rafael. That thought is equally funny as the cartoon.
I suppose it would be possible to avoid Antipodean mooning by devising a contraption whereby one could maintain an inverted position praying downwards with butt pointed skyward. But then, would such a position qualify as prostrate? It remains a dilemma.
I suspect ‘The Muslims’ would not have a problem identifying the direction of Mecca from deep space. Notional Euclidian geometry could be invoked (line of sight) but one still has the problem of prostration versus direction. On a rotating planet the direction of Mecca would change throughout your ‘day’, whatever you calculate that to be.
Perhaps a more vexing problem for the devout space traveller subject to Relativistic effects would be how to calculate Ramadan. Does one use elapsed Earth time or elapsed personal time? No doubt the calculation of daylight (fasting) hours would present an opportunity for advantage exceeding that currently afforded Muslims living in Northernmost latitudes. Allah is ever merciful.
Thanks for the comments – they make me laugh!
Ramadan presents other interesting problem. I think the Koran requires a Muslim cleric to physically view the first waxing crescent after the new moon to announce the beginning of Ramadan. If the cleric experiences cloudy nights, Ramadan is then delayed accordingly. That is why it usually begins at different days across the Islamic world. So, if you can’t actually see the moon, when would Ramadan begin?
Back on Earth, Allah is not merciful with everybody! Imagine those hungry guys working in an Antarctic base in a year when Ramadan falls on December!!
Author, thanks for the link. Reality frequently exceeds the most fanciful parody in comic absurdity.
Thanks Rafael. I’ve often wondered wether Australian Muslims feel somehow hard done by. No doubt Tasmania is an unpopular emigration destination. You pose an interesting problem regarding the beginning of Ramadan. Perhaps by putting our heads together we can assist those Islamic ‘Rocket Scientists’ as they endeavour to appease their god with some ingenious suggestions of our own. (It was so much easier in Abraham’s day when all one needed to do was set fire to a goat and sleep with your sister-in-law.)
“It’s as important as sending the astronaut,” said Mustafa Din bin Subari, deputy director of Angkasa, Malaysia’s space agency. “We want to stress that being a Muslim does not restrict you from doing anything.”
Unless you are a woman who wants to drive her convertible over to the University and feel the wind in her hair while she does so.
Yep, that whole line will only make sense as a reason to hate gay and lesbian folks when gay men become women, and lesbian women become men. Tho if that happened……..ummmm yeeeaaah..
Jesus & Mo (the characters) are absurd, blinkered, and oddly very sweet. J&M (the cartoon) is brilliant: sharp, delicious, irresistible. Salman Rushdie
Jesus and Mo cartoons are wonderfully funny and true. Richard Dawkins
Jesus and Mo make the world a better place, bless their little hearts. Ophelia Benson
In a world defined by outrage and offence and liberal spinelessness, Jesus and Mo is a treasure, whose value we should never fail to recognize. Read them. Laugh. And think. Kenan Malik
The brilliant, celebrated, freaking hilarious atheist comic strip ... Greta Christina
...rays of sanity in a befuddled world. Keri Hulme
The liveliest depictions of Muhammad currently available... Malise Ruthven
J & Mo is the funniest and most consistently thought-provoking cartoon strip on the Net. In a saner world, it would run in a major newspaper. Nelson Jones, Heresy Corner
Consistently amusing, frequently thought-provoking and often heart-warming. New Humanist
Jesus & Mo is one of the most wonderful things on the internet.. JT Eberhard
Wittily captures much of the absurdity of religious apologetics. Mano Singham
I love jesusandmo.net cartoons - witty and sharp! Katha Pollitt
Often hilarious, frequently wry, these cartoons do what all the best cartoons do: they tell the truth through humour. Terry Sanderson, NSS President
...a wonderfully acid British cartoonist... Nick Cohen
I love the scrappy mockery of Jesus and Mo. Freedom of speech
includes the freedom to mock any person, any thing, any activity, and
any belief -- and J&M stands up for this unflinchingly Richard Stallman
...empowering, important and deeply progressive, not to mention hilarious... Council of Ex-Muslims
August 25, 2021
On top of the main gag in your cartoons, I always get a kick out of the books you have the guys reading.
this one was funny 🙂 hehe
this might just be the greatest one yet!
Truly thou hast made me piss myself.
I have a question for Mo…
If a Muslim goes into space, how does he pray? Which direction is east? Surely it moves due to orbit…
😀
In response to Ryan
I am not a Muslim but I do believe the answer is that all Muslims pray towards Mecca (which is in the East), so if they were in space they would still just pray towards the same place, regardless of where it would be on a compass.
More for Ryan…
While in orbit the praying position would constantly change as you go about the trajectory. It’d be like travelling in a Emirates flight, where video screens always display a discreet arrow pointing the current direction of Mecca, albeit a bit faster.
The issue for Mo is what you would do in ‘deep’ space, where the concept of cardinal points become meaningless. On a more positive note, it would be impossible mooning Mecca 5 times a day because you are not on a sphere. So, what to do? Go to space and be unable to pray towards Mecca or stay on planet Earth and keep on mooning Mecca?? Like Mo said: “Better keep that one quietâ€Â
Rafael. That thought is equally funny as the cartoon.
I suppose it would be possible to avoid Antipodean mooning by devising a contraption whereby one could maintain an inverted position praying downwards with butt pointed skyward. But then, would such a position qualify as prostrate? It remains a dilemma.
I suspect ‘The Muslims’ would not have a problem identifying the direction of Mecca from deep space. Notional Euclidian geometry could be invoked (line of sight) but one still has the problem of prostration versus direction. On a rotating planet the direction of Mecca would change throughout your ‘day’, whatever you calculate that to be.
Perhaps a more vexing problem for the devout space traveller subject to Relativistic effects would be how to calculate Ramadan. Does one use elapsed Earth time or elapsed personal time? No doubt the calculation of daylight (fasting) hours would present an opportunity for advantage exceeding that currently afforded Muslims living in Northernmost latitudes. Allah is ever merciful.
http://tinyurl.com/kelzh
Hey Tao&Zen!
Thanks for the comments – they make me laugh!
Ramadan presents other interesting problem. I think the Koran requires a Muslim cleric to physically view the first waxing crescent after the new moon to announce the beginning of Ramadan. If the cleric experiences cloudy nights, Ramadan is then delayed accordingly. That is why it usually begins at different days across the Islamic world. So, if you can’t actually see the moon, when would Ramadan begin?
Back on Earth, Allah is not merciful with everybody! Imagine those hungry guys working in an Antarctic base in a year when Ramadan falls on December!!
Author, thanks for the link. Reality frequently exceeds the most fanciful parody in comic absurdity.
Thanks Rafael. I’ve often wondered wether Australian Muslims feel somehow hard done by. No doubt Tasmania is an unpopular emigration destination. You pose an interesting problem regarding the beginning of Ramadan. Perhaps by putting our heads together we can assist those Islamic ‘Rocket Scientists’ as they endeavour to appease their god with some ingenious suggestions of our own. (It was so much easier in Abraham’s day when all one needed to do was set fire to a goat and sleep with your sister-in-law.)
If vertical orientation matters, a Muslim In Spaaace could arrange the prayer-rug so that its “down” is toward Earth.
In response to Author’s link…
“It’s as important as sending the astronaut,” said Mustafa Din bin Subari, deputy director of Angkasa, Malaysia’s space agency. “We want to stress that being a Muslim does not restrict you from doing anything.”
Unless you are a woman who wants to drive her convertible over to the University and feel the wind in her hair while she does so.
… then pop into the SU bar for a Pint and a packet of Pork Scratchings.
and get a us visa to go to disney world.
or allow blind people with guide dogs in your taxi
it’s pretty clear that Jesus and Mo don’t do anything in bed but reading or sleeping!!
Hilarious!
This is really stupid.
Space is full of meteors, it seems any direction would work.
Since the original link provided by the author is no longer valid, I poked around a bit and found the current location:
http://tinyurl.com/3l36z4w
This is, I’m pretty sure, the same article referenced above.
hahahahaha…that is all
oh, and LOL!
Yep, that whole line will only make sense as a reason to hate gay and lesbian folks when gay men become women, and lesbian women become men. Tho if that happened……..ummmm yeeeaaah..
“…keep our boxer shorts on” – excellent!