space oddity

UAE Issues Fatwa on Mars

Bans Muslims from interplanetary voyages.

The Red Planet may not have Martians, but it certainly won't have Muslims either, according to clerics in the United Arab Emirates. The country's religious leaders issued a fatwa banning Muslims from signing on to an upcoming trip to Mars. At least 500 Saudi Arabians and other Arabs have applied for the one-way journey offered by the Mars One company, which is hoping to set up a human colony on Mars. “Such a one-way journey poses a real risk to life, and that can never be justified in Islam," the country's Islamic affairs committee announced, warning that those trying to escape Allah's judgment would be unable to do so even on Mars.