Author:
Publication: Malaysia Sun
Date: November 11, 2008
URL: http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx?PageID=7446&SKIN=W
Malaysian Muslims will be barred from practising
or propagating yoga from next Friday when the National Fatwa Council will
issue a ruling.
The ruling or fatwa is related to the faith
of Muslims who practise yoga,
Department of Islamic Development Malaysia
Director-General Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abdul Aziz said his department had carried
out an in-depth study on the issue over six months and
regretted the attitude of Malaysian Muslims who were 'easily influenced by
foreign cultures to the point of affecting their faith.'
"When those involved take them as trends,
such cultures can lead to a serious crime according to Islamic law and this
can destroy the family institution," he said.
Many Muslim practitioners and teachers of
yoga have opposed the ruling.
The Hindus, the settlers from India from whom
most of the yoga practitioners come, say it is open to the instructors and
practitioners to keep religion out of yoga.
Yoga, they say, has been accepted as a science
for physical and mental wellbeing in many countries across the world.
The debate in Muslim majority Malaysia was
triggered after a lecturer, Zakaria Stapa of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's
Islamic Studies Centre advised Muslims who had taken up yoga to stop practising
it for fear that they could deviate from the teachings of Islam.
Yoga, related to health, has been practised
since 3,300 BC and is said to help slow down ageing, reduce risk of diabetes,
asthma and heart-related diseases.
