Update to this story.
Via Daily Mail:
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.
According to Khaleejtimes.com it said: ‘Such a one-way journey poses a real risk to life, and that can never be justified in Islam. There is a possibility that an individual who travels to planet Mars may not be able to remain alive there, and is more vulnerable to death.’
However, Mars One pointed out that the Quran encourages exploration.
In a written response to the Fatwa it highlighted a verse that says ‘and among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages and your colors: verily in that are Signs for those who know (Quran 30: 22)’.