Yoga Exercises, Halal or Haram
Nov 26th, 2008, in News, by Patung
Muslim yoga enthusiasts are asked to suspend their yoga activities while the MUI examines whether it is haram.
Last week Malaysia’s highest Islamic clerical authority, the Dewan Fatwa Nasional Malaysia (NFC), issued a fatwa condemning the practice of yoga as haram for Muslims, saying that it constituted a form of Hindu religious practice.
The Dewan Fatwa’s counterpart in Indonesia, Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI), is currently examining whether to issue a similar ruling against yoga.
MUI headman Maruf Amin said that while the MUI mulls the issue, Muslims should keep away from yoga meditation. In the event that a fatwa were issued against yoga, he said, practising yoga remained a right of Indonesians, while the MUI’s job was simply to advise Muslims on what is the right thing to do. okezone okezone
Sore necked Maruf.
Another MUI leader, the fairly liberal Umar Shihab, said however that yoga practice as a form of exercise or fitness training was no problem. detik
Yoga Defender
Indrayana, an instructor from “Yoga Ananda Marga Indonesia”, says she is unconcerned about the issue, considering that Indonesia has a different culture from Malaysia. If yoga were banned, she said her organisation would bring yoga devotees out onto the streets, smiling all the while suaramerdeka
We will hold a smiling demo, those who oppose yoga will be defeated by our smiles.
88 Comments on “Yoga Exercises, Halal or Haram”
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Aluang Anak Bayang says:
Mas monyetmerah re,
There’s always people who think that they are holier than thou. This is why sometimes I am considering of abandoning religion altogether. It is a pity that some bad apples are making the rest look bad.
The only bad apple here is foreign moslem telling us what is halal and what’s not. I meditated and pratised yoga in my local masjid. No one has yet come up to me and tell me it is haram.
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Cukurungan says:
The only bad apple here is foreign moslem telling us what is halal and what’s not. I meditated and pratised yoga in my local masjid. No one has yet come up to me and tell me it is haram.
Mas aluang…of course what you did in in di toilet local mesjid yesterday along with Song of maju tak gentar and kocok-2 barang milik anda sendiri… itu mah jelas bukan Yoga…..tapi NGLOCO namanya hahaha
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fullmoonflower says:
Mas aluang…of course what you did in in di toilet local mesjid yesterday along with Song of maju tak gentar and kocok-2 barang milik anda sendiri… itu mah jelas bukan Yoga…..tapi NGLOCO namanya hahaha
Hah??? kok kang Cuk bisa tahu???? 😯
Hayoooooo….. mengintip ya????? 😆Aduh… 🙄
I have to be more careful then… noticed that there is not only maling sandal in mesjid, but peeper too 🙄 -
@ FMF
It is norm of good moslem man to peep into toilet to make sure we poo according to Allah’s instruction. When I was living in hostel, I always peep into female change room. For Bule unfamiliar with Arab (islam) toilet etiquette. Here is a list of what to and what not to do:
1) Say before entering the toilet, “Allahuakhbar! I seek refuge with You from all offensive and wicked things.”
2) One must always wear a tong and enter the toilet with the left foot and leave with the right foot.
3) One should remain silent whilst in the toilet. Talking, whistling, answering ponsel, playing Gameboy is forbidden.
4) One should squat keeping thighs wide apart with the stress on the left foot.
5) Do not look to the private parts of the body nor the waste matter passed from the body.
6) Do not look up.
7) Finally, when leaving the toilet one should also say a prayer, “Praise be to Allah who relieved me of the filth and gave me relief.”
For more islamic toilet etiquette, link here.
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@ FMF
It is norm of good moslem man to peep into toilet to make sure we poo according to Allah’s instruction. When I was living in hostel, I always peep into female change room.
No wonder you often have sty in your eye 😆
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If a moslem has done a perfect practice of SHALAT…
Why does he/she need to do YOGA? 😉 -
Ms. M….
We talk about Yoga as an exercise… Olahraga… bukan beribadah…Well… actually Sholat Lail is a good exercise too for muslim… But, the problem is : it just because we have to do it before Subuh (about 01.00 AM to 03.00 AM). Membutuhkan kesungguhan, cannot be just for relax as Yoga (as an exercise) is.
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Zack says:
Askum
When you salat (Think of God) and Submit you have obtained Positive Energy and all your Charkras will be open automatically do need to force wasalam.
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Won’t be long now and anything that is good for you or fun will be banned (or at least subject to a MUI fatwa)…
Have the MUI issued a fatwa on smoking yet?
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Lanang says:
Yoga is a form of practice or mere tangibles. It becomes vastly modernized even pop culturalized in a way that it isn’t purely a Buddhist thing any longer.
It’s more about what yoga represents: Eastern beliefs, or anything but. Society has its ways in rejecting the war of religions, even in subconscious level. The growing popularity of atheism is one. Eastern beliefs are gaining more popularity worldwide including in the West. In addition to being the second oldest religion in Indonesia (Hindu’s the first), Buddhism offers a philosophical perspective and not necessarily a theological one, thus it’s more flexible and adaptable.
Forbidding yoga suggests forbidding Buddhism. Forbidding Christmas greetings suggests forbidding Christianity and Catholicism. Hindu? Don’t know yet. Forbidding pluralism suggests forbidding Pancasila.
And forbidding cigarettes suggests forbidding cute, huggable peoples like meh! MUI, you’re evil. 🙁 -
ET says:
fullmoonflower
“Minggir! Kasih jalan untuk mujahid!”
It pretty well illustrates what this FPI phenomenon is all about: lowlife mob power display. Their religion is just an excuse.
FPI = Faceless Power Intimidation.
Bangsat cis. Same for all who support that scum.
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Yes ET..
I always keep that in my memory, the day when 6 mujahat (not mujahid) in FPI uniforms on their 3 motorcycles forced me and my car jump into Jurang Kali Ciliwung… Just because they need wide track, wider than 4 meters width. Probably they thought they were riding Moge (Motor Gede), a very big moge, bigger than truck, so 4 meters width was not enough…
or maybe they were imagining that they were riding elephants… hmmm don’t know 🙄
*ingin kembali ke Tahun Gajah kali yeee… 😛
Alhamdulillah, saya masih waras… ngapain juga bunuh diri buat mereka. Kalau mereka maksa, ya saya tabrak saja sekalian … setelah itu mampir ke rumah om yang brigjen polisi, menyerahkan diri… beres kan…? 😉
hehehehe…duh… OOT 😳
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hindu says:
Are you serious? What the hell is wrong with this world? I think this is a perfect example of extremism! Check this out, and see if I am wrong, why Muslims are the only people or culture who has to dictate everything and everyone in their lives? First off, yoga is not a part of religious practices or a routine. Yoga is way older than Islam as a religion itself and is acceptable through out many cultures as an important part of health science. I have heard, if not seen, of many Muslims doing many other things that are not allowed per Islam and or morally inappropriate such as drinking alcohol, gambling, killing and torturing each others etc. I think the fundamental of Islam is, if anything that is not derived from Islamic practices is a “Haram”! Why Muslims uses airplanes to fly? Why Muslims uses modern surgical procedures? Why Muslims uses TVs and cell phones? There are many modern things Islam accepts and allows to practice as a part of their lives.
I think, each Islamic cleric who comes up with a stunt like this gets Islamic version of Nobel Prize!
I think this fricking mullahs should declare accepting or carrying all foreign currencies as a Haram which has mentioning of other religious. For example all the US bills says “In God We Trust”!
I think these mullahs should also declare cow milk and its products as a Haram because cow is sacred animal per Hinduism!
I think these mullahs should also declare Hindustan as a Haram because it is a land of the Hindus!
When you visit Vaishno Devi in north India many of the Muslims operate their ponies and provide rides to all the Hindus who are on the pilgrimage and are traveling to the Devi for Darshanas and offer Prayers, I think these mullahs should also declare this occupation as a Haram and issue fatwas against this people and their families!
Indian Muslims when they depart for Hajj Indian government bares some of their costs, if not all, and Hindus being majority in India these mullahs should also declare this as a Haram and issue fatwas against this people and their families!
I have a best solution for all the Muslims on this planet earth: they need to find 2 planets, on
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Barry Prima says:
It becomes vastly modernized even pop culturalized in a way that it isn’t purely a Buddhist thing any longer.
It never was a buddhist thing in the first place, hatha yoga is what is being discussed on this thread, which is hindu in origin, the word yoga itself only means spiritual practise/meditation. Before the quran was revealed, I assume muhammed was also performing some type of tapa yoga in the cave of hira, well he certainly wasn’t performming sholat.
Society has its ways in rejecting the war of religions, even in subconscious level.
Very true, but is aethiesm an intelligent response or an ignorant response to ignorance on the same or even lower level?
Buddhism offers a philosophical perspective and not necessarily a theological one.
Buddhism without theology is no longer buddhism, no longer a religious way of life, it’s become existentionalism or some other western philosophical term, which is contrary to Buddhist basic ideas about reality.
Hindu: please read the comments and opening statement, MUI have not even condemned yoga, they have made a very sensible decision to look into it more deeply and give their opinion (not fatwa) only.
If Sholat ,why does he/she need to do YOGA?
Because sholat won’t make him elastic and get rid of the beer gut or give him sexual powers that’s why I think certain types of yoga as primarily physical excercises are good but deeper levels, which deal with deeper parts of the prana, such as kundalini or those that are meditative types of yoga meditation are not good for a muslim.
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Repost. Patung, can you delete the one above?
Are you serious? What the hell is wrong with this world? I think this is a perfect example of extremism! Check this out, and see if I am wrong, why Muslims are the only people or culture who has to dictate everything and everyone in their lives?
Not entirely true, Christian fundamentalists have done so as well. Also Jews.
Ask Grandpa Abraham why, hindu. -
Tim says:
According to Dewan Fatwa Malaysia only spiritual part of yoga such as chant or something related to Hindu religion was prohibited but not yoga in physical.
Tim
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I think the fundamental of Islam is, if anything that is not derived from Islamic practices is a “Haram”! Why Muslims uses airplanes to fly? Why Muslims uses modern surgical procedures? Why Muslims uses TVs and cell phones? There are many modern things Islam accepts and allows to practice as a part of their lives.
I think, each Islamic cleric who comes up with a stunt like this gets Islamic version of Nobel Prize!
I think this fricking mullahs should declare accepting or carrying all foreign currencies as a Haram which has mentioning of other religious. For example all the US bills says “In God We Trust”!
I think these mullahs should also declare cow milk and its products as a Haram because cow is sacred animal per Hinduism!
I think these mullahs should also declare Hindustan as a Haram because it is a land of the Hindus!
If you thought so I have best a solution for you, find near by Mosque and convert to Islam hence declare your self as Great Mullah after that you can declare whatever you want to declare
When you visit Vaishno Devi in north India many of the Muslims operate their ponies and provide rides to all the Hindus who are on the pilgrimage and are traveling to the Devi for Darshanas and offer Prayers, I think these mullahs should also declare this occupation as a Haram and issue fatwas against this people and their families!
Indian Muslims when they depart for Hajj Indian government bares some of their costs, if not all, and Hindus being majority in India these mullahs should also declare this as a Haram and issue fatwas against this people and their families!
India Muslim problem is your own problem, they are not Arab and they are not Indonesia but they are all native india who want to break a corrupt and un-justice India society. The roots of India Muslim rage run deep in India, nourished by a long-held sense of injustice over what many Indian Muslims believe is institutionalized discrimination against the country’s largest minority group. Therefore, please take care by your self because this forum is not India Matters but Indonesia Matters
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Odinius says:
This is ridiculous.
Red rubber balls will be declared haram next.
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Purba Negoro says:
I agree with sex as haram for all.
Then no more yobbo plebian Australians like Andy, no more Chinese mail order brides and half caste Chinese anchor babies and the world including the Americans would rejoice.
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@ Barry Prima
It never was a buddhist thing in the first place, hatha yoga is what is being discussed on this thread, which is hindu in origin, the word yoga itself only means spiritual practise/meditation.
Excuse my ignorance. Yoga is Hindu in origin, not Buddha.
Thanks for the correction, Barry Prima.is aethiesm an intelligent response or an ignorant response to ignorance on the same or even lower level?
It’s a necessary response; humanity is organic, thus its constant and absolute dynamics. Intelligent or ignorant, that would depend on the actualization: pragmatic approach, purpose, altogether the constitution of system. Like religions, or any other disputed ideologies or ethics, it’s more of a question of how instead of what. How is it actualized? Is the actualization of atheism a responsible or an ignorant one? Is it an intelligent or dumbfounded one? Is it actualized in a form of rationalism, or romanticism, or fundamentalism?
What do you think?
@ Odinius
This is ridiculous.
Red rubber balls will be declared haram next.
And skip on Kama Sutra? Oh, no fun.
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PN…
And sex would be haram for PN as well, right?
Or was it that sex was really only to be decalred haram for yobbo plebian Aussies and Chinese?
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It’s a necessary response; humanity is organic, thus its constant and absolute dynamics
Yes it is undoubtedly a necessary response and perversely the outcome of the humanization of god, by certain strains of christian thought.Without these developments in Christianity, Atheism would not have developed into what it is today,without it you would not have had Niettzche. That is why Islam was necessary as a salvation for humanity from itself,that is why the clash of civilizations is happening.
Atheism is necessary, but the question I would say is not one so much of Actualisation (as atheism can only lead to one final outcome:ie the destruction of man and the universe) but the matter of degree.A little atheism is healthy ,but when the belief in only the visible and rational world overrides the belief in the invisible and actual world, in the imagination of the masses,then you have a reversion of the natural relationship of things,and hell on earth.(ie:the loss of the soul of the world.)
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Tim said
According to Dewan Fatwa Malaysia only spiritual part of yoga such as chant or something related to Hindu religion was prohibited but not yoga in physical.
Actually, the term Yoga means ‘yoke’ and refers to the different ways people can reach ‘enlightenment’ and Mokhsa or complete liberation of material bonds and reincarnation.
Because not all people are the same there are 4 ways or Yogas (Catur Yoga) to reach this state:– Bhakti Yoga or the way of devotion
– Karma Yoga or the way of deeds and action
– Jnana Yoga or the way of knowledge
– Raja Yoga or the way of meditationBut when people speak of Yoga they usually mean Hatha Yoga, which forms a part of Raja Yoga and refers to the different postures and techniques which help to reach a level of altered consciousness leading to a state of deep meditation.
Now I wonder what kind of Yoga this fatwa refers to.
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Yes,
for all.
I saw a documentary about how some male animals have much shorter lives solely due to sex and squabbling/fighting against each other for sex.When deprived of sex- their lifespan is equal to females- due to freedom the highly stressful competition.
Sydney and San Franscisco are world famous for attempting to totally eliminate females from reproduction men mounting each other in frenzied effort to perpetuate the species without the fairer gender.
Imagine annoying our wives to the end of their days. Sweet. They no longer get those few years of peace and sanity.
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Oigal says:
as atheism can only lead to one final outcome:ie the destruction of man and the universe
Ah the word according to Barry… careful or he will get all metaphysical on you all.
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kamehameha says:
Let me state my “definition” on what Yoga is not:
Yoga is not chanting (it is not necessary)
Yoga is not Hinduism, they are somewhat different
Yoga does not teach you how to summon Jinn/demon and order them around like a servant. In fact, stay away from people who claim they have that ability. The last thing you want in life is being with some weird a$$ Solomon wannabe lol.Now let me state my “definiton” on what Yoga IS:
Yoga is an exercise
Yoga works with human psychology
Yoga employs breathing exercise, visualisation and imagery as its tool.
Yoga works with human nerve energy/signalsYoga IS dangerous, Kundalini (nerve energy) n human psychology is NOT something to be played around….it CAN make you gila…literally…
Now let me state where you DON’T/SHOULD NOT learn Yoga from:
Don’t learn Yoga at fitness center
Don’t learn Yoga from people who can not mention nor proven their teacher’s credential and lineage.
Don’t learn Yoga from people who do not know how to fix things when something gone wrong (ie don’t learn Yoga from ppl who don’t understand how nerve energy works and how it relate to human psychology).IN SHORT:
I won’t go so far as stating it is Haraam, however, DON’T DO Yoga if you don’t know what you’re doing…
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bs says:
Indeed, you might just make the moon crash in to the earth 😉
Thanks for the warning dear swami, you can now fly off and warn others.
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@ Mr. Barry,
Seems you cannot control your emotion…
As a muslim, I suggest you to do DZIKIR after sholat. This is how my teacher, a kiyai, teached me to how to control myself.
Dzikir : Subhanallaahi walhamdulillaahi wa laa ilaaha illallaahu allaahu akbar, at least 1000 times after sholat.
Step by step you’ll be able to see a positive thing behind the negative things…
Always khusnudzon to Allah, in happiness or in sorrow, you’ll be always think that Allah is loving you…
Because this is the way He shows us His loves us : giving us examinations…
Noticed that Allah still gave us exams, we will always be happy…
The more exam is hard the more we know that He is still loving us, and then the exam became lightly because we will keep optimist…
Perhaps the result of Yoga will be like this too for several people… dunno 🙄