With four days left for one of its nationals to blast off to space, Malaysia has launched the world's first concise and comprehensive guidebook for Muslims in space.
Two Muslim nationals were short-listed to visit the International Space Station (ISS) and the name of the chosen one will be announced just before the trip, scheduled for October 10.
The two candidates in the fray are medical officer Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, 35, and Armed Forces dental surgeon Faiz Khaleed, 27.
Minister in prime minister's department Abdullah Zin said the 18-page guidebook would be translated into English, Russian, Arabic and possibly more languages, for the benefit of future Muslim astronauts.
"There is a lot of interest in the book prepared by the Islamic development department," the minister was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper today.
"We even have foreign broadcasting stations like Al-Jazeera and Japan Broadcasting Corporation requesting for interviews solely on the guidelines," he added.
The book entitled 'Guidelines for Performing Islamic Rites at the International Space Station', teaches Muslim astronauts how to perform ablutions, determine the location of Mecca when praying, praying times, and how to fast in space, the paper reported.
"The reason we formulated guidelines for Muslims in space is because we wanted to ensure our astronaut could fully concentrate on his mission, without having to worry about how he should perform his religious obligations in space," the minister said.
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