Islam isn’t hostile to the idea of aliens beyond earth, says Professor Determann

Professor Jörg Matthias Determann speaks to Geeska about a new book he co-edited on Islamic theology and extraterrestrial life.  

On 8th March, the Pentagon announced that it is not secretly hiding any alien technology or extraterrestrial entities from the public. The declaration would have raised a few eyebrows, but it is the latest in a long running saga about ties between the US and aliens which has swept into the American mainstream since last summer.  

In July 2023, David Grusch, a former intelligence official who worked on unexplained anomalous phenomena (UAPs) within a US Defense department until 2023, told a congressional hearing that he was “informed” about a “multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program” which he was denied access to. He also claimed the US government has recovered “non-human biological pilots” from a crash site but that he didn’t want to get into “specifics.” 

Following the explosive testimony, Democrat Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer introduced a UFO transparency bill which was watered-down before it passed in December. A month earlier, the US government launched the “All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)”, a website which allows the public and government employees to log their encounters with UFOs. In neighbouring Mexico, the lower house of the country’s parliament allowed the controversial journalist José Jaime Maussan to present what he claimed were two alien corpses he found in Peru. Maussan’s presentation was widely ridiculed by scientists.  

“There has been growing interest in this,” says Jörg Matthias Determann, a professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, who has recently published a book titled Islamic Theology and Extraterrestrial Life. The book is a collection of essays by several scholars exploring questions around what Islam’s scholastic tradition says about extraterrestrial life, as well as the Quran and hadith literature.  

Determann previously authored a book titled Islam, Science Fiction and Extraterrestrial Life about sci-fi novels in Muslim countries and believes that “Islam lends itself to the possibility of alien life,” citing the second verse of Al-Fatiha: “[All] praise is [due] to Allah, lord of the worlds.”  

Professor Determann speaks to Geeska about his new book, how he became interested in the topic and why he believes Islam is incredibly open to the prospect of life beyond earth.  

Faisal Ali: What drew you to this unusual combination of subjects: Islam and aliens?  

Jörg Matthias Determann: So, I’ve been a science fiction fan since childhood. I grew with the Star Trek, Star Wars and Dune franchises. And a lot of video games too. So, I had this early interest in space-theme science fiction. I also developed an interest in politics and history, especially of the Arab and Muslim world and spent many years studying the Middle East. But it was after moving to Qatar that I became interested in Islamic science fiction. 

I was fascinated in some way by the hypermodern, futuristic projects taking place in some Gulf cities, like Dubai, a self-styled “city of the future”, Doha, and of course, Neom. The UAE also developed a space program. And all that alerted me to questions about different visions of the future that are being pursued in Gulf regions which aren’t just copies of western futurisms. So, all that drew me to this topic. 

FA: Did scholars of Islam take much of an interest in some of these themes: UFOs, space and extraterrestrial entities?  

JMD: Islam as a religion is very much connected to the heavens and so are Muslims. From setting prayer times to the fact that most stars have been named by Muslims astronomers. The Quran also refers to Allah as the lord of the worlds in plural (رَبِّ ٱلْعَالَمِينَ), and people have wondered what these worlds are and what they contain.  

They’ve also expressed a keen interest in beings we share the cosmos with from angels to jinn and have written extensively about them. With jinn specifically, there is an appreciation that they are rational creatures, that have the ability to choose between good and evil and so on. So, I’d say yes. But not in the sense of how we think about aliens today. I’d argue however that the Quran really does leave the possibility open, if not suggesting, that there is extraterrestrial life. It isn’t hostile to the idea.  

FA: This isn’t a hugely controversial issue, but I wonder if there was any pushback or concern about exploring this question from a religious perspective?  

JMD: We were more worried if the topic would be taken seriously. This is generally considered a fringe topic and is subject to a lot of conspiracies. But we found that there was a great deal of consensus among Muslims of all sects on this issue. The idea that Allah is lord of the worlds, there being multiple heavens and earths and that there are creatures throughout those worlds.   

FA: Was there anything in the submissions from the authors who contributed to the book that really stood out to you?  

JMD: I was impressed by the variety of authors, from philosophers to theologians and sci-fi authors; and even the way they used hadith literature and the Quran to draw out these interpretations in favour of a living universe. There was some disagreement about the topic of whether humans are special. To what extent are humans special in the universe?  

Some theologians of course, argue that we are special, that we are the anointed stewards to take care of animals, plants and environment and that the angels were commanded to bow to Adam.  

FA: Was there much discussion about how possibly encountering an advanced alien civilisation could shape Islamic theology?  

JMD: That would influence these theological debates. It raises questions about what ethical commitments Muslims have to non-human intelligent life forms. Do Muslims put them in the ethical category of humans which are bound together by specific moral guidelines, or animals with whom humans have a more paternalistic relationship? There are other questions about whether we should go there, what risks could that pose to them and us. Do we have a responsibility to spread our religious messages there? So, I don’t believe it should I shake Islam theological, but it would raise other quandaries.  

FA: Have you looked deeply at the questions of where the search for life beyond earth is now?  

JMD: Well, we haven’t found much. We’ve found large organic molecules, a building block of life, but these molecules are mainly just chains of carbon and perhaps other elements. We have detected liquid water on other celestial bodies though, on the moons of Saturn and Jupiter under icy crusts which could host life.  

Outside our solar system, we’ve discovered over 5,000 planets and have developed instruments that allow us to examine the atmosphere of these planets. But we haven’t found techno-signatures or bio-signatures that suggest life or biological processes.  

FA: Was there any Muslim science fiction book that had a significant impact on you?  

JMD: I’d say I really liked a book by an Indonesian author called Galaksi Muhsinin. I really like the way he used Islamic scriptures and Islam words for his world building. Planets were named after surahs in the Quran, he had a spacecraft named Saifallah (sword of God). There was an algorithm called taqwa. It is reminiscent in some ways of Frank Herbert’s Dune who also drew on Islamic history and Middle Eastern history to create a plausible desert world.  

I also became interested in cross-cultural influences and circulation. Dune and Star Wars have an obvious debt to Islam in their world building. And of course, these also then influence Muslim consumers of science fiction.