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Mars One requests that Muslim clerics rescind fatwa against Mars colony

Ibn Battuta.

Mars One, a Dutch based organization that proposes to establish the first colony on Mars, has requested that the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment located in the United Arab Emirites rescind its fatwa prohibiting Muslims from traveling to and settling Mars in a February 21, 2014 statement.

The statement quotes the Koran from a sura that it claims encourages Muslims to explore and to appreciate the heavens, while invoking the life of a 14th Century Moroccan explorer named Ibn Battuta.





The statement went on to describe how the Mars One project is striving to mitigate the risk of traveling to and settling on Mars.

It is unknown at this time how effective a secular, European group will be disputing a point of the Muslim religion with a council of Islamic clerics. It is possible that the Mars One group, should it wish to pursue the matter, would want to find other Muslims clerics to give their approval of the venture to colonize Mars.