Wednesday, October 19, 2005
 
I was reading today about how the Hubble Telescope was focused on the moon over the summer, exploring the mineral content of moon rocks at potential future base locations. Basically, if there is sufficient ilmenite, then a human base can harvest oxygen, water, and rocket fuel from the moon, avoiding issues with payload overload. The results are in suggesting that indeed, ilmenite is plentiful. They have also found evidence of water ice near the lunar poles, which could be of use.

This is all particularly interesting to me as a Muslim because I think about what would happen to Muslims if mankind did something to change the moon. What if we established very reflective base camps that changed how light reached the earth from the moon. It could throw off the whole calendar. Fortunately, it can only do so by a limited amount, since a lunar year is not going to be affected by such structures. On the other hand, I've read sf stories where the moon serves as the base for an enormous colony ship. What would the Muslim community do if we used the moon as a space ship? Or if we blew it up, to make it easier for us to mine it? Would we find a new way to calculate months? Would we rely on astronomical data on what we would have seen if the moon was still around? Given the amount of chaos our community experiences around moonsighting three times a year (the beginning and end of Ramadan and the beginning of Hajj), I wouldn't be surprised if we all just never fasted Ramadan or performed Hajj again. Ok, yes, I would be surprised, but the upheavals could be really ugly!

I sense the buds of a new short story...
 
Comments:
Wow, VERY thought-provoking!
:-)
 
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Progressive Muslim, feminist, mom, writer, mystic, lover of the universe and Doug Schmidt, cellist, theologian and imam.


What I'm reading now



Cane River
An interesting exploration of the gradual whiting of a family through slavery to modern days.

To see an archive of all the books I've read (well the ones I've read and review since I started the blog) with comments, please click here

Causes Worth Supporting

This is just a short list -- a few of my favorites.

English Language Islamic Fiction. We need more of it. Lots more.
Pay a Teacher's Salary in Afghanistan. The Hunger site actually has a lot of worthwhile programs. You can find them all here .
Muslims for Progressive Values. My organization. We can always use donations, of time or money!
Human Rights Campaign for the glbt community
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
The ACLU I'm a card carrying member. Hope you'll become one too.
MoveOn.org. The organization that has done the most, as far as I can tell, to pull the countries progressive side together.
Network of Spiritual Progressives. Working to reclaim religion and morality for the religious left.

Blogs Worth Reading

Wanda Campbell also known as Nochipa A very gifted poet and a gentle, compassionate soul. Nochipa and I are on the same page on sooooo many things
Writeous Sister Aminah Hernandez, she's got some excellent latino pieces and always has good writing info on her blog.
Sister Scorpion aka Leila Montour - Leila is a fount of energy, quirky humor, and bad attitude. She's also a talented poet.
Muhajabah Very interesting commentary here. I don't always agree with her, but her pieces are always thought-provoking.
Georgie Dowdell Georgie is a great writer and a good friend.
Louise Marley Another great writer. I think Louise is one of the best sf writers exploring faith themes.
Ink in My Coffee Devon Ellington (who has numerous aliases) who is also the editor of Circadian Poems. A truly inspiring woman with a seemingly endless supply of energy.
Ethnically Incorrect With a name like that, isn't a given I'm going to enjoy this writer?
Freedom from the Mundane Colin Galbraith, another excellent writer, from Scotland.
The Scruffy Dog Review This is a new e-zine with an ecclectic mix of fiction, poetry, and non-fic, some really enjoyable pieces here.
Ramblings of a Suburban Soccer Mom Lara, another gentle soul, very thoughtful.
Circadian Poems A journal of poetry, new stuff up all the time.
Ye Olde Inkwell Michelle writes romance and is one of my writing buddies.
Muhammad Michael Knight The original punk Muslim writer. Like him or love him, Mike is always coming up with the unexpected.

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