The Islamic research department of Al-Azhar Institute has turned down a proposal to build a mosque on the moon. This was reported on Wednesday in the London based daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat. The department explained its rejection by saying it is currently not a Muslim priority, especially since many Islamic countries are not able to build mosques on their own land. The priority should be building mosques on earth so that worshippers and scholars can populate them, pray and learn in them.
The department of research in Al-Azhar is comprised of many important Muslim clerics. The request was put forward by a group of Russian Muslims who wish to plan a mosque on the moon which will recite the traditional call for prayers and readings from the Quran to the whole world thus uniting humanity.
Al-Azhar is a one-thousand-year-old institute in Egypt. It is a mainspring for sciences of Muslim Jurisprudence and Arabic Language, aiming to propagate them in the various Islamic countries for the maintenance of Islam and the advantage of Muslims.