Muslims can very well do yoga, says Darul Uloom
January 27th, 2009 - 4:34 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, Jan 27 (IANS) Going against Indonesia’s ban on Muslims practicing yoga, India’s best known Islamic seminary says there is nothing wrong with any exercise done for health reasons.Clerics at the highly revered seminary in Deoband town in Uttar Pradesh said that yoga was fine as long as no non-Islamic religious rituals were involved.
“Islam does not prohibit anyone from practicing yoga or any other kind of physical exercise. Only thing is that with what belief you are doing it… If you are doing it for health reasons, there is absolutely no problem in practicing yoga or any other exercise,” Qari Usman, an expert on Hadith at Darul Uloom, told IANS over telephone.
“In fact the Prophet had laid stress on people leading a healthy life. Historically there have been traditions of different kinds of exercises in Muslim civilizations,” added Usaman, also a former pro-vice chancellor of the seminary that attracts thousands of students mainly from India.
Yoga guru Swami Ramdev has suggested that non-Hindus can chant Allah in place of ‘Om’ while doing yoga. Qari Usman reacted to this: “Exercises are done for physical fitness, why include religious mantras?”
India is home to about 140 million Muslims — the third largest Muslim population after Indonesia and Pakistan.
Indonesia’s Ulema Council also known as MUI met Saturday and issued a ‘fatwa’ asking Muslims to stop practising yoga saying it included chanting of Hindu mantras.
The Indonesian fatwa follows a similar ban imposed by Malaysia’s top Islamic body in November.
- Why give yoga a religious connotation, says Deoband - Jan 28, 2009
- Don't allow Rushdie in India: Deoband vice chancellor - Jan 09, 2012
- Rushdie's Jaipur visit under cloud (Second Lead) - Jan 10, 2012
- Rushdie's Jaipur visit under cloud (Lead) - Jan 09, 2012
- Indonesia bans Muslims from practising Hindu rituals during yoga - Jan 26, 2009
- Congress steers clear of Rushdie visit controversy - Jan 10, 2012
- Lyricist Javed Akhtar gets e-mail threat for criticizing Deoband fatwa - May 15, 2010
- Indonesia bans yoga for Muslims - Jan 26, 2009
- Rushdie unlikely to attend Jaipur Festival - Jan 17, 2012
- Indonesian ulema panel says it will study yoga issue - Nov 27, 2008
- Suspense continues over Rushdie's Jaipur visit (Lead) - Jan 19, 2012
- Suspense continues over Rushdie's Jaipur visit - Jan 19, 2012
- Deoband head who praised Modi removed - Jul 24, 2011
- Religious conversion for second marriage un-Islamic: Muslim clerics - Feb 19, 2009
- 'Ulemas won't stop Muslims from singing Vande Mataram' - Nov 09, 2009
Tags: clerics, darul uloom, different kinds of exercises, fatwa, hadith, health reasons, hindu mantras, hindus, india yoga, islamic body, islamic seminary, muslim population, physical exercise, physical fitness, qari, religious rituals, swami ramdev, ulema, vice chancellor, yoga guru