Malaysian Fatwa council bans yoga for Muslims after banning tomboys

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 — The country’s top Islamic body today ruled against Muslims practising yoga, saying it has elements of other religions that could corrupt Muslims.

The National Fatwa Council's non-binding edict said yoga involves not just physical exercise but also includes Hindu spiritual elements, chanting and worship.

"It is inappropriate. It can destroy the faith of a Muslim," council chairman Abdul Shukor Husin told reporters.

He noted that clerics in Egypt issued a similar edict in 2004 that called the practice of yoga "an aberration."

Though the council's decisions are not legally binding on Malaysia's Muslim population, many abide by the edicts out of deference, and the council does have the authority to ostracise an offending Muslim from society.

The fatwa reflects the growing strain of conservatism in Malaysia, which has always taken pride in its multiethnic population. About 25 per cent of Malaysians are ethnic Chinese and 8 per cent ethnic Indians, mostly Hindus.

Recently, the council issued an edict banning tomboys, ruling that girls who act like boys violate the tenets of Islam.

The fatwa council took up the yoga issue after an Islamic scholar last month expressed an opinion at a seminar that it was un-Islamic.

But yoga teacher Suleiha Merican, who has been practising yoga for 40 years, called yoga "a great health science" and said there is no religion involved.

"We don't do chanting and meditation. There is no conflict because yoga is not religion based," Suleiha, 56, told The Associated Press.

There are no figures for how many Muslims practise yoga, but many yoga classes have a sprinkling of Muslims attending.

Putri Rahim, a housewife, said she is no less a Muslim after practising yoga for 10 years.

"I am mad! Maybe they have it in mind that Islam is under threat. To come out with a fatwa is an insult to intelligent Muslims. It's an insult to my belief," Putri told The Associated Press.

In a recent blog posting, social activist Datin Marina Mahathir criticised the council for even considering a yoga ban, calling it "a classic case of reacting out of fear and ignorance."

AP