For the longest time, the rumour surrounding astronaut Neil Armstrong converting to Islam in Cairo, Egypt has been passed around among people. Several years after his Apollo flight, he visited the Middle East. There, he heard the call of the muezzin, asked what was it. Upon being told the source of the sound, legend has it that Armstrong recalled hearing the Adzan (call for prayers) on the moon and converted on the spot.
Since then, there has not been any reliable source to substantiate the claim. This story has been fabricated so many times with people adding exciting details. It’s a tricky situation whenever religion is involved.
However, these rumours had actually reached the moon man, himself. He even wrote a letter addressed to the President of the Islamic Centre in Delhi, Wahuddudin Khan, explaining his side of the story back in 1983. In the letter, Armstrong denied both allegations of him converting to Islam and leaving his religion, and of hearing the Adzan on the moon. What’s even funnier is that, he stated that he has never been to Egypt before!
He also apologised at the end of the letter for the inconvenience caused by several publications, both in Malaysia and Indonesia, for their incompetent journalism to publish unverified stories such as this. “I have found that many organizations claim me as a member, for which I am not a member, and a lot of different families — Armstrong families and others — make connections, many of which don’t exist. So many people identify with the success of Apollo. The claim about me becoming a Muslim is just an extreme version of people inevitably telling me they know somebody whom I might know,” he previously said.
It is understood that sound doesn’t travel on the moon, but if you could hear a song there, what would it sound like?
