Excerpt:
The organisation planning the first manned mission to Mars has asked for the Fatwa issued against living there to be lifted, calling for clerics to remember Islam's rich tradition of exploration and allow Muslims 'to witness God's creation in heaven'.
Mars One is planning on setting up the first human colony on Mars in 2025, but the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment (GAIAE) in the UAE declared recently that a trip there would be un-Islamic.
The committee argued that an attempt to dwell on the planet would be so hazardous as to be suicidal and killing oneself is not permitted by Islam.