Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Malaysian fatwa agency forbids Yoga for Muslims

Taken from The Jakarta Post

An authority on religious affairs in Malaysia has issued a fatwa saying Yoga is forbidden for Muslims.

The fatwa, announced by the National Fatwa Agency on Saturday, deems Yoga incorporates physical movements, musical sounds, singings and adorations that are not inline with Islamic teachings.

The agency said that the fatwa was not legally binding and that it would only serve as a formal opinion representing members of Muslim community in Malaysia. According to the latest census report, currently there are about 27 million Muslims in the country or about two-third of the total population.

The controversy about Yoga in the largely Muslim populated country became a public attention recently, following a statement of a lecturer at the Malaysia National University, Zakaria Stapa, which said that Yoga is an element of Hindu teachings and that it could affect the faith of Yoga practicing Muslims.

He argued that Yoga distances Muslims from Islam.

In response to his statements, a civil society group -- Malaysian Muslim Solidarity Movement --- launched a counter argument saying that Yoga is only a type of sports and adapted by Muslim to the betterment of health.


They gotta be kidding me, this joke is not funny at all. I'll be damned if Indonesia forbids Yoga too. It's just another form of sport for God sake!

17 comments:

simplynk said...

Bahasa Malaysia version : http://www.islam.gov.my/portal/yoga_Bm.php

English version:
http://www.islam.gov.my/portal/yoga_Bi.php

They only declared that the yoga practice which involves three elements of physical movements, worshiping and chanting as haram (prohibited) in Islam.

Take note on the "worshiping" and "chanting".

Yoga with only physical movements are fine.

TQ

Anonymous said...

I think things are definitely getting out of control.

BAN EVERYTHING! yeah!

toni wahid said...

Sound similar with neighborhood country, right ?

Anonymous said...

Future things to consider to be banned as well:

1. Anything from The US because Americans and Jews are the same.

2. Porn. Porn is evil.

3. Women. Women are evil because they are always in porn.

4. The Internet, because people can get porn from it.

Anonymous said...

ikut yoga di tempat gue aja ky, gak ada chant-chantnya, ga ada musiknya. rasanya malah kaya di barak tentara. gurunya kalo ngomong kaya pake TOA. HAHAHAKAKHAKHAKHK!

Neng Keke said...

Just bribe them & everything becomes legal :)

Elyani said...

The question is how did the Muslims become exclusive about Islam and think everything non-Islamic is haram? I read MUI will consider to ban it in Indonesia as well. Tsk..tsk..tsk.. here they are playin the holier than thou role again. After Yoga, what's next? Pilates, tai chi, aerobics? geeshh...as if we don't have enough problems! :(

Katadia said...

I did yoga hamil for Andra in RSPI. Nothing hindu about it! LOL. HOw would they ban people from privately practising Yoga? Weird!

Ivy said...

ridiculous... they are so intent on keeping a good image but what's the use when the inside is corrupted. Damn those hypocrites. tapi aku baru tau yoga ada pake chanting segala lho

Anonymous said...

Like Kat, I attended the Yoga class during my pregnancy. There was some chanting, but it helped me a lot.

When my husband's granny heard I was attending Yoga class, she (a devout Pentecostal) asked me politely to annule the lessons which I didn't.

kutubusuk said...

@ecky... tahun berapa sekolah di smanduta?

bisa gabung ke milis smanduta@yahoogroups.com ?

kirim email kosong aja ke smanduta-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

c ya!

Anonymous said...

ky, gak cuma Yoga yang dilarang, Binaraga juga ternyata dilarang juga karena mempertontonkan anggota tubuh katanya... hahaha.. Kok gue srasa naik nis yah dinegri ini... Gak boleh mengeluarkan anggota tubuh :P

Ori said...

My very good friend is a devoted Muslim and she used to joined Yoga practice at Jawarhal Nehru and she's still Yoga enthusiast. When I asked her, doesn't she mind about the chanting? She answered it cool, she said she doesn't matter cause just did shalawat instead(? something like that) inside her head :-D

seputar ebook said...

ooh, please .
not in indonesia ....

Anonymous said...

Harusnya yng difatwa haram itu pikiran kotornya, bukan anggota tubuh, internet atau wanita atau apalah... iya nggak sih?

Semua agama kan dasarnya baik, sayang aja kalo dirusak sama (so-called) ulama yang nggak sekolah dan pikirannya cupet..

Unknown said...

To All: Good thing Malaysia canceled the fatwa and Indonesian government can think smartly by not ban yoga as well.

Now we all can continue doing yoga yayy...

@ Kutu busuk: SMA cuma kelas 1 aja disana tahun 94

Anonymous said...

Yeah, in what basis they conclude such sport as Haram. These guys in religious council sometime tend to act reckless (ato memang lg pingin bikin sensasi) .. Hehe