Quran

• Sending human remains to the Moon on the first commercial lunar lander, Peregrine 1, on Jan. 8, 2024, along with scientific instruments, caused a controversy.
• The inside of the lander was to be a kind of “space burial” for remains of some 70 people.
• Each of the families had paid over US$12,000 for a permanent memorial on the Moon.

Jewish death rituals and purification

• There were many ways in which one could become ritually unclean, and each level of pollution was cleansed by an appropriate purification rite.
• After the Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 C.E., Jewish religious practice changed dramatically, including rules about purification.
• These days, after a burial or visit to a cemetery, many Jewish people wash their hands to wash away negative spirits or energy.

Christian death rituals over the centuries

• Corpses or cremated remains were interred in burial places outside cities and town – in the necropolis, literally a city of the dead.
• As monotheists, Christians rejected belief in the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, including the Moon goddess called Selene or Luna.
• They also refused to participate in Roman state religious rituals or activities based on pagan polytheism.

• Unlike some other religions, neither Judaism nor Christianity considers the Moon divine or sacred.
• In both Jewish and Christian spiritual writing, the Moon is used as a spiritual analogy: in Judaism, of the majesty of God, and in Christianity, of Christ and the church.

Islamic beliefs on burial

• After death, the deceased is ritually washed, wrapped in shrouds and brought for burial in a cemetery as soon as possible.
• The soul of the deceased is said to visit their loved ones on the seventh and 40th days after death.
• In September 2007, when the first Muslim astronaut from Malaysia got ready to go into space, the Malaysian National Space Agency published religious directives on burial rituals for Muslims in space.

Hindu and Buddhist funerary practices

• Hinduism is a diverse religion, and so funeral practices often vary according to culture and context.
• Most commonly, death and the period following a person’s death are associated with ritual pollution.
• In the many forms of Buddhism, death provides an opportunity for mourners to reflect on the impermanence of all things.

In older forms of Buddhism in Nepal and Tibet, the Moon was understood to be identified with the god Chandra, who rides on a chariot. The Moon is also one of the nine astrological deities whose movement provides insight for reckoning individual and collective futures.

Difficult questions

• Peregrine 1 never made its soft landing on the Moon because of an engine malfunction, and its payload was destroyed after entering the atmosphere.
• As more people decide to send their ashes into space, however, religious conflicts are bound to arise.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• In addition to 685 building materials which weigh 87 kg, as well as 187 glass artifacts which weigh 5kg and 71 metal artifacts of 7kg.
• The wood's origin has been identified to be Ceylon Island in the Indian Ocean which highlights the far-reaching trade connections of Historic Jeddah.
• Moreover, several tombstones of Mangabi stone, marble, and granite were also found in different locations in Historic Jeddah.
• Jeddah Historic District Program in cooperation with the Heritage Commission supervised the documentation, registration, and preservation of archaeological artifacts discovered in Historic Jeddah, and listed the finds in the National Archaeological Register.

• The fundamental distinguishing feature of an Islamic bank is its adherence to Islamic, or Sharia, law.
• Why do these rules and conventions exist, and how do they work in practice?

1. No interest

• For devout Muslims, conventional banking services are problematic because of the main way most banks make profit – by charging interest on loans.
• Islam’s holy book, the Quran, prohibits all transactions associated with interest.
• Usury refers to lending money at unreasonable interest rates, but the term is sometimes used to mean any charging of interest at all.
• Similarly, deposits with the bank don’t earn interest, but instead they earn a return that will rise or fall in line with the bank’s overall profits.

2. No speculative assets

• From this, Islamic scholars infer that purchasing land or property purely for speculation is not permissible, but buying it to undertake economic activities is allowed.
• This means Islamic banks cannot engage in the kind of debt-based financing that underpins the home or business loans offered by many Australian banks.
• Similarly, Islamic banks can provide loans to buy land that will be used for economic activities, but cannot profit purely from land price appreciation.

3. No ‘socially harmful’ business

Sharia law does not allow an Islamic bank to finance economic sectors that are deemed harmful to people’s wellbeing, such as alcohol, tobacco, gambling, adult entertainment, pork products, or arms production.

4. Islamic corporate governance

Islamic banks typically appoint two boards: a regular board of directors similar to those that govern most banks, and a Sharia supervisory board to oversee compliance with Islamic laws.

What are Islamic Bank Australia’s prospects?

• The main challenge for Islamic Bank Australia will be to gain accreditation from the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA), which regulates Australia’s commercial banking industry.
• In many Muslim-majority countries, such as Malaysia for example, a separate Sharia Advisory Council, typically appointed by the country’s central bank, oversees the Islamic finance industry.
• Islamic Bank Australia’s Sharia committee has three members: Malaysia-based Ashraf Md Hashim, who also sits on that country’s Sharia Advisory Council; Mohamed Ali Elgari, an Islamic economics academic in Saudi Arabia; and Australia-based Islamic banking scholar Rashid Raashed.
• A related issue is the question of how Islamic Bank Australia will interact with Australia’s existing banks.

• Aligned with the strategic objectives of the Sharjah Digital Office, these latest service enhancements aim to bolster the sustainable digital future of the Emirate.
• The newly added services include:
  The Sharjah Digital Office has announced the addition of the "Visit the Quranic Museums" service on the Digital Sharjah platform, within the general services sector.
• The Sharjah Digital Office is at the forefront of transforming lives and empowering communities through cutting-edge digital solutions.
• Its Digital Sharjah platform offers a diverse range of services spanning across seven pivotal sectors, namely business, transportation, utility services, social services, public services, security, and real estate.