after reading the all your posts/replies, it seemed that the big
picture was missed. we as muslims believe that the main reason why
God created us (and the jinns) is for us to worship Him. (Quran
chapter 51 verse 56).
with regards to our daily worldly affairs we have to perform our
prayers (5 times daily for the compulsory prayers). if a person is
unable to do so eg. his job requires him to stay at his post for 8
hours or something like that, then he must make up his prayers when
he goes off duty.
if he is travelling on a long journey, then the rules are relaxed
for him where he can combine and shorten his prayers. but the fact
that he must perform his prayes still remain. and if a person is
unable to perform it physically, let's say constraints of space, on
an airplane, in a wheelchair, paralysed from the neck down etc etc,
then the rules are further relaxed for such persons where the
Prophet (pbuh) said that if u cannot stand during your prayers,
sit, if not, lie down or else just indicate the movements of
prayers by blinking your eyes. as long as the person is of sound
mind, then the prayers are obligated upon him. even if a person is
sleeping or overslept, or he forgot, then he must make it up when
he wakes up or remembers.
there are however reasons that can excuse a person eg. menstruating
women, a crazy person, a child who have not yet reached puberty, a
person in a coma or just underwent an operation and is under
sedation.
if malaysia is sending their astonauts into space, regardless
whether they are malays, chinese, or indians, ang mohs or
whatsoever...as long as if they are muslims, then they will have to
perform the prayers. how?? let the muslim scholars look into the
situation on how about to do it (as in the article said). they are
the ones that will see what are the best options with regard to the
Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh). because we are not scholars
ourselves, so we don't know.
and with regard to some replies that said `i think it;s
ridiculous...', `i think it should be like that', ` i think it
should be like thi's...and so on... we Muslim believe that God has
perfected our way of life 1400 years ago. and when we deal with our
everyday lives we would always consider what does Islam tells us
about this, what does Islam tells about that... and to go around
saying `i think this doesn't make sense, that doesn't make sense'
means what?? do we think that we can create a better universe that
God?? or come up with a better idea than God?
