BDx13
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DaveMoral, time to hand over your yoga mat!
Top Islamic body: Yoga is not for Muslims
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/22/malaysia.yoga.ba...
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Malaysia's top Islamic body on Saturday ruled against Muslims practicing yoga, saying it had elements of other
religions that could corrupt Muslims.
Malaysia's top Islamic body is not keen on yoga.
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 ostracize an offending Muslim from society.
The Malaysia fatwa reflects the growing strain of conservatism in Malaysia, which has always taken pride in its multi-ethnic population. About 25
percent of Malaysians are ethnic Chinese and 8 percent 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 practicing 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," Merican, 56, told The Associated Press.
There are no figures for how many Muslims practice yoga, but many yoga classes have a sprinkling of Muslims attending.
Putri Rahim, a housewife, said she was no less a Muslim after practicing 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 said.
In a recent blog posting, social activist Marina Mahathir criticized the council for even considering a yoga ban, calling it "a classic case of
reacting out of fear and ignorance."
If I fail math, there goes my chance at a good job and a happy life full of hard work.
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joemaconmovies
Posting Freak
Posts: 1827
Registered: 6-22-2005
Location: Western Mass
Member Is Offline
Mood: pissed off
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i agree with the housewife. it would seem that the top body doesn't have much faith in those that practice the muslim religion. course, same thing
tends to go for other religions.
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BDx13
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i really wasn't expecting the line about the tomboy band.
that kinda cracked me up.
If I fail math, there goes my chance at a good job and a happy life full of hard work.
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joemaconmovies
Posting Freak
Posts: 1827
Registered: 6-22-2005
Location: Western Mass
Member Is Offline
Mood: pissed off
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i missed that part. that put a smile on my face
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DaveMoral
Posting Freak
Posts: 4334
Registered: 1-24-2006
Location: Ardmore PA
Member Is Offline
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Fortunately, I'm neither Malaysian, Egyptian or Sunni. There are rulings from Shi'a clerics saying yoga and a whole slew of otehr Asian arts are
totally permissable AND I wouldn't listen! That said, I'm not a yoga buff... just do some stuff occasionally. I'm mainly a Chinese martial arts guy.
One other thing, there are Muslim yogis in India... primarily from the Islamic mystical tradition. Anyone that says meditation is against the religion
is a moron too... given the number of sayings from Muhammad about the importance of meditation and contemplation. It's also in the Qur'an.
Furthermore, most of these so-called clerics have such a limited field of study and experience it's hard for me to take them seriously at all. We are
talking about guys in Egypt that have been largely locked up in al-Azhar university in Cairo for decades who have never even left their country... let
alone actually read anything about the stuff they talk about. I'm just as skeptical about Shi'a clerics too, primarily because 99.9 percent of them
live in places where they never have to encounter someone from a different religion. In the case of Malaysia, there's tons of tension between the
Muslims there and the Hindus... so it doesn't surprise me at all that they say these things. Which is also wrapped up in their own willful ignorance
of the Hindus and yoga.
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