Critical Thoughts

Its amazing how there exist a group of people in this world who claim to be “Muslims” and yet oppose any attempts to make clear issues concerning the aqidah of the Muslims. Such people, whom I should refer to their disease as “Munafik-titis“, will find fault with anything involving the ulama or any fatwa (religious edict) which they think violates their “understanding” of Islam. It does not matter if these people never had any formal religious training in the first place. They still feel that they are qualifed to be the Law, the Judge and the Executioner….and all at once.

And I seriously doubt that they practiced yoga at any point in their lives either.

Now coming back to the issue of yoga and Islam, what the National Fatwa Council is planning to do is nothing novel nor are they the first to issue an edict on the matter. It is interesting that I happen to come across Islamonline.net and their collection of edicts, where they have made mention of yoga. I reproduce the following from the site mentioned.

Is Yoga permissible or not?

Answer: Wa`alykum As-Salaamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakaatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear brother in Islam, we would like to thank you for showing keenness on knowing the teachings of Islam, and we appreciate the great confidence you have in us. We hope our efforts meet your expectations.

With regard to your question, Sports are basically Halal and permitted in Islam as long as they do not encompass forbidden acts. As for Yoga, it contains certain religious rituals aiming at educating and disciplining the soul. Moreover, those who practice it claim that there is a spiritual contact between them and some hidden spirits in which they themselves believe. Given all this, practicing Yoga by Muslims is Haram.

The reason given on why yoga is haraam (forbidden) is because this form of exercise requires the belief in mystical rituals that are connected to Hinduism. Such practices run contrary to the basic principle of Muslim belief, which is to have unquestioning faith in God and to not indulge in other practices that violate this contract. If and when such a time comes where yoga does not have any of these practices, then there are no problems with that and a Muslim can perform yoga exercises without any issues.

So frankly, why is there a fuss about the National Fatwa Council and their religious edict on yoga, when Islamic bodies around the world have already come to an agreement on this and they are simply reinforcing this view?