Islam and Extraterrestrial Life

This Element offers a general overview of the topic of extraterrestrial life – its possible existence, forms, and cultural as well as religious views on it – with particular attention to Islamic perspectives, past and present. It begins with a brief survey of the history of the debate over the plurality of the worlds as it unfolded in Christendom, followed by a concise, albeit non-technical, summary of the recent advances in the search for extrasolar planets and for life in the cosmos. The focus then shifts to the Qur'an and hadith as foundational sources for developing an Islamic perspective on the question of extraterrestrial life. Finally, several Islamic concepts that might require re-evaluation in light of the discovery of extraterrestrial life are presented, underscoring the urgent need for the development of an Islamic astrotheology.