Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam.
The others are: Belief in God and accepting Prophet Muhammad as the messenger, saying five prayers a day at affixed times, performing the Hajj pilgrimage and giving alms.
Quran Chapter 2, Verse 183: “Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may attain taqwa.” Taqwa is conscious awareness of God.
The issue of a Moslem fasting in space came to the fore again on 25 January, 2023, with 41-year-old Emirati astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi who was to launch to space for six months as part of SpaceX Crew-6 on 26 February, 2023.
The other members of the crew were: NASA’s Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
Ramadan fast for the year started on 23 March, 2023, and lasted one lunar month. During this period, it is obligatory for Moslems to fast from dawn to dusk daily.
Sultan al-Neyadi was the second UAE astronaut. In September 2019, Hazzaa al- Mansoor spent eight days in the International Space Station.
Fasting in space was also an issue when Malaysia’s first astronaut Sheik Muszapher Shukor, 35, was in the ISS with cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov for 10 days starting from October 10, 2007.
Ramadan fasting for that year was from 13 September to 12 October.
Islamic clerics asked him to pray only three times a day in space instead of five times facing Mecca on Earth. The ISS orbits the Earth 16 times a day.
He was also exempt from kneeling to pray and washing hands and face with water before prayers. Instead, he could use a wet towel in place of washing with water.
The first Arab and Moslem astronaut in space, Saudi’s Prince Sultan bin Salman, in his book “Seven Days in Space” described his experiences in the Shuttle Discovery.
His expedition started on 17 June, 1985, which was the 29th day of Ramadan in that year.
He talked about general feeling of nausea from fasting in micro-gravity and difficulty kneeling to pray.
Islamic clerics say travellers, the sick and vulnerable are exempt from fasting by the Quran. Astronauts fall under the category of travellers.
Astronauts are to use the time from their last position on Earth as a guide to the time for prayers.
