KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The good girl gone bad has promised to be good for one night.
R&B sensation Rihanna will shun skimpy outfits when she performs in Malaysia next month, the concert's organizers said Tuesday, becoming the latest international star affected by the Muslim-majority country's strict rules on performers' dress.
Recent concerts by Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne faced protests by conservative Muslim Malaysians over immodest clothes. Stefani eventually made what she called "a major sacrifice" at her show by donning attire that revealed little skin.
Under government guidelines, a female performer must be covered from the top of her chest, including her shoulders, to her knees.
The organizers of a Pussycat Dolls concert in 2006 were fined nearly $3,000 after the U.S. girl group was accused of flouting decency regulations.
The Malaysian organizers of Rihanna's Feb. 13 stop on her "Good Girl Gone Bad" tour voiced hopes that protests would not mar the Grammy-winning singer's show.
Rihanna's management is "aware of the country's regulations and the difficulties of doing a show," Razman Razali, managing director of Pineapple Concerts, told The Associated Press.
However, a district branch of the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, which blasted Lavigne's on-stage moves as "too sexy" last year, said in an online commentary that Rihanna was "sexier and more dangerous" than Lavigne.
Concert ticket Web site Axcess said sales for Rihanna's show in a 16,000-capacity Kuala Lumpur stadium were selling briskly Tuesday, just hours after newspapers announced the event.
Salaam writes: Cycads, who is perhaps the only blogger - Malaysian or otherwise - doing feminist analysis of life in that country, has written a piece about why the feminism movement has been stillborn there.
Cycads writes, "Feminism was, and still is, the temporally-frozen, bra-burning, anti-men boogiewoman of the general Malaysian imagination." American political progressives will immediately recognize this as the legendary DFH (Dirty F***ing Hippy) stereotype that US rightwingers are always throwing around to freeze out progressive/leftist alternative ideas.
Anyway, herewith follows an excerpt of Cycad's attempt to address and respond to the criticisms and fears of feminism:
Conversations with Malaysian anti-feminists are almost always destined to doom. But I think it's only fair that we understand their grievances by teasing out their usual beef with gender equality.
Feminism is a Western, secular ideology. (This includes claims of feminism as elitist)
This is a good enough reason to forget about feminism altogether for many. Truth is, third-world, indigenous concepts of feminisms are growing in numbers around the world and are constantly in negotiations between non-racist, non-patronising feminist frameworks and local cultures in many societies.
Feminism has failed in its objective and fragmented into in-fighting groups. Many developed nations that are pro-women in law and socially have struggled to establish equal pay between the sexes and to achieve a greater female presence in the top ranks of politics. These issues are still being addressed and debated in the public sphere, and are not the failings of feminism. Feminism is a political movement, and is bound to break into different sub-ideologies based on values that are not represented by constituted powers-that-be. These values, of course, sometimes do not see eye to eye, like socialist feminism vs lipstick feminism for example.
The Superwoman is a myth. The woman who has it all: a family and a great career, is often blamed for family breakdown, neglected children, high rates of singlehood, and late motherhood, among other things. We still live in a culture that often turns a blind eye to neglectful fathers and castigates women for delaying marriage and motherhood in favour of high-flying careers. Men are congratulated for being a father at 80 - just don't expect the same for women. Yes, I know that women are normally not fertile at 80, but the risk of miscarriage and fathering a child with congenital defects such as autism and schizophrenia increases for men beyond the of 35. So everyone has a biological clock. Bummer for you and me.
Feminism supports the right to abortion. That means ending the life of an innocent human being for anti-choicers. Now, feminism sees that women should be given the right to her every aspect of her body, and that includes terminating an unwanted pregnancy. Abortion is never an easy decision to make. It is traumatic, painful, and risky.
Feminism is to blame for all that gender role confusion and so-called social construct stuff. (This includes supporting the sexuality rights of LGBQT groups).
Girls are not hardwired to play with make-up and the mini washing machine, and boys are not born to shoot and kill. Children brought up with gender specific toys grow up internalising their respective roles. As a result, men don't expect to do the washing, sewing, or cooking, and women are not expected to work with power tools.
Feminism justifies morally-questionable acts of empowerment. Can pole dancing, shopping sprees, and binging on alcohol be empowering? This is something that might have little to do with what feminism stands for, that is against oppression and exploitation. If women choose to sexually exploit themselves and submit to oppressive standards of beauty for the enjoyment of men, let them.
Feminism encourages women to compete rather than working with men and then take over the world. Not like that is a bad thing, of course, but this is born out of an ancient male insecurity of female sexuality and its power to give birth, hence the need to contain it.
The publication is currently embroiled in a court dispute with the government over a ban on the use of the word "Allah" as a Malay-language translation for "God." The Herald has sought a court order to challenge the government's ban on its use of the word.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysia's Muslim-majority government denied any plan Wednesday to shut down a Catholic newspaper accused of flouting publication rules by running articles deemed political and insulting to Islam.
The Herald, the main Roman Catholic weekly in Malaysia, has received warnings over the past year that it could lose its publishing license, which expires Dec. 31. All Malaysian publications must renew their government license every year.
The Rev. Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Herald, said the Home Ministry has not renewed the paper's license even though it submitted an application months ago, while in past years a license was typically issued far in advance.
"If they want to delay it like that, it doesn't give me any indication that it (the license renewal) will happen," Andrew said in a telephone interview.
Che Din Yusoh, an official with the Home Ministry's publishing unit, however, said officials were merely bogged down with a large number of license applications.
"We will issue it by the end of the month," he told The Associated Press. "There is nothing to worry about."
The Home Ministry sent a letter to the Herald's publishers earlier this year warning that the newspaper had "committed offenses" by highlighting Malaysian politics and current affairs instead of Christian issues for which it has been given a license.
The ministry also accused the Herald of carrying an article that "could threaten public peace and national security" because it allegedly "denigrated Islamic teachings."
The Herald has said, however, the article titled "America and Jihad - Where do they stand?" was not meant to insult Islam but was an analysis of circumstances following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
The publication is also currently embroiled in a court dispute with the government over a ban on the use of the word "Allah" as a Malay-language translation for "God." The Herald has sought a court order to challenge the government's ban on its use of the word. Hearings have not begun.
The government has said the use of the word could confuse Muslims, while the Herald insists "Allah" has been used for centuries to mean "God" in Malay.
The Herald's problems underscore the tenuous position of minority religions amid a recent string of interfaith disputes. Many Christians, Buddhists and Hindus fear their rights are being undermined by government efforts to bolster the status of Islam, Malaysia's official religion.
Ethnic Malay Muslims make up nearly two-thirds of Malaysia's 27 million people. Dissatisfaction among minorities over the demolition of Hindu temples, court rulings about the right to leave Islam and other religious disputes contributed to the government's poor performance in March elections.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A burglar who broke into a house claims he was held captive by a "supernatural figure" for three days without food and water, officials said.
Police official Abdul Marlik Hakim Johar told The Star newspaper the house's owners found the 36-year-old man fatigued and dehydrated when they returned from vacation Thursday.
He says they called an ambulance to take him to a hospital.
The man told police that every time he tried to escape, a "supernatural figure" shoved him to the ground.
"You should be proud of this man," Mr. Clinton told the audience, pointing at Mr. Sekhar, the 40-year-old chief executive of the Petra Group, a privately held rubber technology company.
Vinod Sekhar, chief executive of the Petra Group, a rubber technology company, invited former President Bill Clinton to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Friday.
Former President Bill Clinton visited Malaysia on Friday to deliver his first paid speech since his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, was selected Monday by President-elect Barack Obama to be secretary of state.
Mr. Clinton spoke before nearly 3,000 people in Kuala Lumpur at the invitation of Vinod Sekhar, a Malaysian businessman whose foundation paid Mr. Clinton $200,000, according to several people with knowledge of the fee. The figure is on the lower end of the scale that Mr. Clinton usually commands for his speeches.
"You should be proud of this man," Mr. Clinton told the audience, pointing at Mr. Sekhar, the 40-year-old chief executive of the Petra Group, a privately held rubber technology company.
But several angry investors in Britain and Malaysia say they disagree with the former president's glowing assessment of Mr. Sekhar, whose company has suffered a rough few weeks.
"I believe he is using Bill Clinton - this is what he does," said Abdul Azim Zabidi, a former board member of the Petra Group who claims Mr. Sekhar broke numerous promises to him and still owes him $100,000. "He just wants to get new investors."
Another investor, the actor Bruce Willis, recently settled a lawsuit with Petra over the return of $900,000. The company called it a "misunderstanding."
And this week, after a 10-year partnership, a member of the Malaysian royal family quit as Petra's chairman, saying he was tired of the many "surprises" during his affiliation with the company.
"Enough is enough," the former chairman said.
Mr. Sekhar declined to comment. A spokesman for the Petra Group, Andrew Murray-Watson, said that Mr. Zabidi's assertion that he was still owed money was "utter rubbish," and that the Clinton event was held as a memorial for Mr. Sekhar's late father, a scientist who invented an environmentally sound way to recycle tires.
"The idea that Vinod organized this event purely for public relations purposes is frankly ludicrous, and insulting to the memory of his father," Mr. Murray-Watson said.
Officials with the Obama transition team said they did not vet Mr. Sekhar's background before Mr. Clinton's speech. The speech was one of the last Mr. Clinton will deliver without being reviewed by a State Department ethics panel, a requirement he has agreed to follow if Mrs. Clinton is confirmed by the Senate as secretary of state. Mr. Clinton also agreed to have his fees from business dealings and foreign speeches reviewed by the White House Counsel's Office, if necessary.
Malaysian prince: 'Islam is a progressive religion and the ulama (scholars) should be confident of the followers' faith rather than micro-managing their way of life.'
Prince Tunku Naquiyuddin seated, center. The responsible adults of Malaysia take action and squash the anti-yoga fatwa.
Salaam writes: Alhamdulliah for the Malaysian royals. I'm ending my Internet ad campaign against the ban. Good won out in the end against the deviance of the fatwa council.
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's prime minister said on Wednesday Muslims should still take up yoga, reversing an outright ban that has drawn widespread protests amid concerns over growing Islamic fundamentalism in the multiracial nation.
Malaysia's National Fatwa Council, comprising Islamic scholars, told Muslims at the weekend to avoid yoga because it uses Hindu prayers that could erode Muslims' faith.
But the decision drew a sharp rebuke from many Muslims and even Malaysia's sultans, or hereditary rulers, who said that they should be consulted on any matters involving Islam.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi moved to contain the damage, telling the national news agency Bernama that Muslims could carry on doing yoga but minus the chanting.
"I wish to state that a physical regime with no elements of worship can continue, meaning, it is not banned. I believe that Muslims are not easily swayed into polytheism," he said.
Just before Abdullah spoke, the eldest son of the ruler of the central Negeri Sembilan state took the government to task over the yoga ruling.
"Islam is a progressive religion and the ulama (scholars) should be confident of the followers' faith rather than micro-managing their way of life," Tunku Naquiyuddin told a luncheon.
"If I go to a church or a Buddhist temple, is there any fear of me converting? ... Where do we draw the line?" the online version of the Star newspaper quoted him as saying.
The yoga fatwa ruling came hot on the heels of another edict against young Muslim women wearing trousers.
Fatwas or religious edicts are not legally binding, but they are highly influential in Malaysia, where Malay-Muslims form just over half of the country's 27 million people.
A Buddhist monk practices Shaolin kung fu. The martial arts are another ancient Asian cultural development that did not exist in gulf Arab societies at the time of the prophet and that has been integrated into other Asian religions. Anything that was valuable enough to be passed on through the generations such as yoga and the martial arts would have been picked up and brought into the local religions. The gulf Arab cultural imperialism that underlies salafi ideology such as that applied to create the yoga ban would seem to also dictate that the martial arts must be forbidden. The fatwa council seems to have forgotten that it is possible to be a good Muslim and have a non-Arab cultural heritage.
A commenter at Malaysiakini.com writes: Now that Muslims are officially banned from practising yoga, I can see a slew of other activities especially those concerning martial arts that will be banned to Muslims as they also may have religious connotations.
Shaolin martial art is the mother of all other Eastern martial arts, started by Bodhidharma, an Indian Buddhist monk.
Till today it is promoted by the Buddhist monks in China and the Shaolin Temple is world famous today because of its martial arts.
Certainly there are religious connotations in Shaolin martial arts like the Stance of the 18 Immortals and the Buddha's Palm. Get a Steven Chow movie like 'Shaolin Soccer' or 'Kung Fu Hustle' and you will know what I mean.
From the main source, different masters in different countries have evolved their own martial arts but the fact remains it is Buddhist in origin. In karate for instance, the Shorinyu school is actually a Shaolin school.
Looking at things, with the yoga fatwa now coming into force, I am truly sorry for all Muslim martial arts practitioners and fans and all the karate instructors in the police force.
It will be a matter of time before a fatwa is issued to ban martial arts based on the same reasoning that they have religious connotations.
To all Muslim karate national athletes, we hope you can represent the country for the 25th Sea Games in Laos before the ban.
Therapist: 'An overreaching fatwa like this is not good for cancer survivors as unnecessary worry can have a negative effect on them psychologically and physically. Some are already feeling guilty for practising it.'
Malaysia is one of over 50 countries that designates medical tourism as a national industry. Malaysia's competiveness as a medical tourism destination could be damaged if local yoga professionals' businesses collapse due to the adverse effects of the anti-yoga fatwa. Yoga is an integral part of many cancer recovery programs.
Kuala Lumpur, Nov 24: Malaysian Muslims who have been fighting cancer with the help of yoga are "disappointed and confused" over last week`s move by the National Fatwa Council to ban the ancient Indian fitness regime among Malays.
"There is a need for the Fatwa Council to explain their edict properly so that Muslims who practise yoga, including cancer survivors, are not made to feel guilty," said National Cancer Society of Malaysia`s advisor Zuraidah Atan.
Atan said she had been inundated with calls from cancer survivors who were confused and apprehensive over the fatwa (edict).
"An overreaching fatwa like this is not good for them as unnecessary worry can have a negative effect on them psychologically and physically. Some are already feeling guilty for practising it," she was quoted as saying in a newspaper on Monday.
"Besides yoga, we also have qi gong sessions. Is the Fatwa Council going to ban qi gong, too, because it has its origins in Buddhism? Then how about line dancing? We also organise that as a form of light exercise for cancer survivors," she said.
She said yoga, qi gong and line dancing were good for cancer survivors because they were group dynamics, which helped promote positive thinking and unity among survivors belonging to different religions and communities.
Atan said there were many levels of yoga and only yoga in its purest form involved religious chanting.
"Most Muslims know this. The yoga that is being taught in yoga centres nationwide only concentrates on techniques and has nothing to do with the promotion of Hinduism," she stressed.
Atan said the Cancer Society organised a weekly free yoga session for cancer survivors, especially those who were over 40 as a form of relaxation and breathing exercise.
The National Fatwa Council Saturday declared that yoga is haram (prohibited) in Islam and Muslims are banned from practising it.
Council Chairman Abdul Shukor Husin said yoga had been practised by the Hindu community for thousands of years and incorporated physical movements, religious elements together with chants and worshipping, with the aim of being one with god.
He noted that while merely doing the physical movements of yoga without the worshipping and chanting might not be against religious beliefs, Muslims should avoid practising it altogether as doing one part of yoga would lead to another.
Ninie Ahmad: 'To portray yoga as harmful to one's faith will be a great loss to the country. In Klang Valley alone, there are 30,000 registered yoga practitioners in yoga centres and gyms, and 30 percent of them are Muslims.'
Ninie Ahmad (center), the brand ambassador for Adidas yoga line, said she would go ahead with plans to open a three-studio yoga centre next month. She doesn't know whether the fatwa will cause her to lose her corporate endorsement. My main post on this issue that links to all other information I've published is here.
Excerpted from an article in New Kerala: The edict would affect thousands of individual Muslim practitioners, besides yoga centres and those engaged in its business endorsement.
Muslim Malays form the majority in Malaysia's 28 million population that also has 33 percent ethnic Chinese and eight percent Indians, a bulk of them Hindus.
Although worried how the fatwa would affect her business, Ninie Ahmed, who is the brand ambassador for Adidas yoga line, said she would go ahead with plans to open a three-studio yoga centre next month.
"The show goes on for me. I have invested half a million on this. Yoga is my bread and butter," she said, adding that she was unclear how the ruling would affect her Adidas endorsement.
The centre, to be called Be Yoga, is a Bumiputera-owned (Muslim Malay) company and will be run and operated by Muslims.
"To portray yoga as harmful to one's faith will be a great loss to the country. In Klang Valley alone, there are 30,000 registered yoga practitioners in yoga centres and gyms, and 30 percent of them are Muslims," Ninie said.
Asked if she was afraid of the repercussions from the authorities, she said her centre promoted yoga purely as an exercise.
"I'm disappointed that the council failed to see the bigger picture of the benefits of yoga."
A fellow yoga enthusiast, Azzy Soraya, said it was unfair to think that Muslims who practised yoga were a step closer to converting to Hinduism.
"Yoga moved on from its religious roots a long time ago. It's about well-being and all religions encourage their followers to stay healthy."
Some Islamic bodies also disapproved of the ban, The Star newspaper said.
M. Revathi, 40, who has been teaching yoga part-time for about 10 years, said some people mistook the names of the asanas (postures) as religious verses as they were in Sanskrit "but there's nothing religious about the names".
"As for the meditation part, it's not religious either. I tell my students to relax and free their minds, and they can meditate in whatever language they like," she said.
The Islamic religious department in northern Perak state has also revoked an earlier decision to adopt the ruling, saying that the Perak sultan's consent was not sought.
Salaam writes: This is an excellent example of the way historic Islamic societies functioned prior to the introduction of European colonization. Power in society was divided between the rulers and the scholars. Neither group had absolute power so that they could check each other if one became deviant. Mashallah for Malaysia's rulers, and for showing the rest of the world how a society grounded in Islamic values can govern itself to thwart extremism.
A note: I have been running Internet advertisements in Malaysia denouncing this ruling in the most strident language possible. My primary post about the ban is here.
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - A ban on yoga by Malaysia's highest Islamic body is facing opposition from royal state rulers, who are considered the guardians of Islam in the country, reports said Tuesday.
Two states in Malaysia -- Perak and Selangor -- are delaying gazetting the fatwa, which would make it state law, saying that their royal rulers should first give their consent.
Devotees of yoga and moderate Muslim groups have criticised the weekend ruling by the government-backed National Fatwa Council, which said that the ancient practice could erode Muslims' faith.
In an unusual intervention, Selangor's Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah reportedly said the yoga ban could not be implemented before his state's fatwa committee had a chance to consider the matter.
Sharafuddin said the issue had to be investigated "in greater detail so that a decision is not made hastily," according to the Star newspaper.
The Islamic religious department in northern Perak state has also revoked an earlier decision to adopt the ruling, saying that the Perak sultan's consent was not sought.
Norhayati Kaprawi from prominent civil society group Sisters of Islam said the sultans were exercising their right to be heard in such cases.
"The danger is when a fatwa is elevated as if it was something divine and cannot be challenged, when in fact all it means literally is just an opinion," she told AFP.
Sharafuddin also said that future religious decrees should be approved by the council of state rulers before being announced, to avoid "any confusion or controversy."
A vociferous Islamic religious leader from the northern state of Perlis, Asri Zainul Abidin, also spoke out against the yoga decision and said Muslims could follow a non-religious version of the popular exercise.
"The fatwa council should not be so rigid and should instead consider allowing Muslims to practise it solely for health benefits instead of issuing a blanket ban on the practice," he told AFP.
Sisters in Islam's Norhayati said that the edict also rang "warning bells" about a "regressive trend" in Malaysia, where the population is dominated by Muslim Malays, who live alongside ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.
"It has been escalating lately and this reflects a larger issue of growing conservatism," she said.
A politically changing Malaysia seems increasingly to be looking for a national and ethnic identity through a dangerous fatwa-ization of their society.
New yoga teachers graduating from a Singapore yoga school. Perhaps Abdul Shukor Husin thought no one would think to confirm his assertion that yoga had been ruled haram in Singapore. Or maybe he did so little investigation of the matter in carrying out his duties as chairman of the fatwa council that he blurted out the falsehood in complete ignorance.
Gabriele Marranci writes: The Malaysian National Fatwa Council has issued another of its many fatwas, which have seen an increase in numbers during this time of political turmoil. "Yoga is forbidden for Muslims. The practice will erode their faith in the religion," said Abdul Shukor Husin, the council's chairman.This time the target was one of the most (also among Muslims) anti-stress activities: Yoga. As mental and physical discipline, Yoga has been appreciated by many Muslim scholars, who have even suggested that the practice could be 'Islamicized'.
Certainly, no scholar had thought of forbidding it, since Muslims, particularly in India other South Asian areas, have practiced various forms of Yoga for a long time. Indeed, there are many points of contact between the movement of the Muslim prayer and some of Yoga. Whomever is familiar with the philosophy behind yoga is very aware that it is not a religion, and it can be easily adapted to one's beliefs, whatever they may be.
Yoga is a 'tool', a 'technique', or better a 'mechanism'. However, in times where even 'water' may be claimed by a company to be halal, and in a Muslim world in which 'haram' is becoming the most popular word to empower oneself or one's group, I am not surprised that currently, restrictive fatwas are becoming the main political tools in trying to attract a certain electorate.
Of course, the Malaysian National Fatwa Council's radical decision has been promptly reported by mass media and blogs of many types. The reaction seems to be often the same: 'here we are, Muslims have done it again'. Yet what has been unreported is that the National Fatwa Council, inspired by prof. Zakaria Stapa of the Faculty of Islamic Studies in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, is not a first. Christian families in the US have requested the banning of Yoga from schools on the basis that it is a Hindu religious practice, hence it violates the separation of state and church. Some evangelic preachers may actually have indirectly inspired the fatwa (see here for an interesting parallel with the present fatwa),
The interesting point is that Abdul Shukor Husin has tried to justify the quite unjustifiable fatwa mentioning other countries that allegedly would have invited Muslims not to take the Lotus position. Among the countries which Dr Abdul Shukor Husin mentioned there was also Singapore. The reality is different, and Singaporean Muslim clerics have affirmed again that practising yoga is acceptable for Muslims. Should we suggest perhaps to the Malaysian Muslims to cross the border and enjoy their hour of relaxing yoga before crossing the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link and going back to a politically changing Malaysia which seems increasingly looking for a national and ethnic identity through a dangerous fatwa-ization of their society.
'I don't think it had caused any Muslim to convert to Hinduism, neither has it weakened their faith,' said Norhayati Kaprawi, an official with Sisters of Islam. Her group has been hosting yoga classes for Muslims for over a year and has vowed that they will continue.
Sisters in Islam has been advocating on behalf of women and against extremism in Malaysia, and had a book published by their group "Muslim Women and the Challenge of Extremism," banned by the government this year. The book was edited by Norani Othman and is available for digital download from Amazon.com.
One of Malaysia's highest Islamic bodies came under fire from Muslims and yogis Sunday after its chairman said yoga was forbidden for Muslims because the practice would weaken religious faith.
Devotees of yoga and moderate Muslim groups criticized the ruling by Abdul Shukor Husin, chairman of the government-backed National Fatwa Council. Yoga is hugely popular in majority-Muslim Malaysia.
Physical versus spiritual "I don't think it had caused any Muslim to convert to Hinduism, neither has it weakened their faith," said Norhayati Kaprawi, an official with Sisters of Islam, a private group which champions the rights of Muslim women.
"It is just an exercise like tai chi, which has its roots in Buddism," she told the Star newspaper on Sunday. She said her group's staff had been holding yoga classes for the past year and that they would continue.
Rulings by the Fatwa Council are not legally binding on the country's Muslims, and there are no laws to punish those who ignore Council decisions -- but it is an enormously influential body.
Abdul Shukor decreed that yoga was forbidden because it involves the recitation of mantras and that it encourages a union with God that is considered blasphemy in Islam.
"The practice will erode their faith in the religion," he said on Saturday. "It does not conform with Islam."
But Sheikh Fawzi al-Zifzaf from al-Azhar in Egypt, the oldest center of Islamic learning, said there was a difference between physical practice and worship. But he warned that should the physical practice of Yoga lead to worship it would be forbidden.
"Yoga practice as physical exercise that teaches the body to be patient and poised is allowed in Islam," Fawzi told alArabiya.net.
"However, if the initial stages of yoga practice lead to advanced ones which involve a change in psychological religious views of the practitioner, then it becomes forbidden because it jeopardizes the beliefs of the Muslim," he said.
Yoga, an ancient Indian aid to meditation dating back thousands of years, is a popular stress-buster in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
Muslim yoga teacher Siti Suheila Merican said that while yoga practice should not involve worshipping, the physical movements were good for improving health.
"Worldwide it has been accepted as an exercise for health benefits," she said to the Star newspaper.
Move to conservatism A veteran opposition lawmaker, Lim Kit Siang, said that the edict showed that Malaysia was heading towards a conservative type of Islam which could divide the multiracial country.
"It is sending a most unfortunate message that Malaysia, instead of moving towards a moderate and universal Islam, is moving towards an opposite direction which will create divisions," he told AFP.
Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, where more than 60 percent of the population of 27 million are Muslim Malays who practice a conservative version of the faith.
About 25 percent of the population is ethnic Chinese and eight percent is ethnic Indian, most of whom are Hindus.
Shukor reminded non-Muslims that they should not question the fatwa, or religious ruling. "This is not something for non-Muslims to interfere in or question as this matter involves Muslims and their faith," he said in anticipation of a backlash on the decision.
Fatwa council as intellectually incurious as George Bush, and just as harmful. 'We had actually sent letters to the relevant authorities - offering our opinion and expertise but there was no response.'
Yet more yoga classes in Singapore where the chairman of Malaysia's national fatwa council, Abdul Shukor Husin, falsely claimed that yoga had been forbidden to Muslims. Someone should remind the chair of the fatwa council that honesty is an Islamic virtue, and ignorance is a vice.
PETALING JAYA: Members of the Malaysian yoga society are disheartened by the fatwa by the National Fatwa Council declaring yoga as haram as the practice of yoga in Malaysia unlike that in India is tailored to local religious sensitivities and cultural traditions.
Nevertheless it will cooperate by discouraging Muslims from partaking in this healing exercise via physical movements.
T.Manisekaran, who is president of both the Malaysian Yoga Society (MYS) and Malaysian Association of Yoga Instructors said the research focused on before the fatwa was announced seems to have been focused more on the practice of yoga promoted by institutions in India which incorporate religion and spirituality into their practice.
"Malaysian yoga is different as it incorporates the local situation," said Manisekaran.
He said most of the instructors being born and bred as Malaysian are familiar and understand the sensitivities of the different cultural and religious groups and give yoga instructions based on this.
"We had actually sent letters to the relevant authorities - offering our opinion and expertise but there was no response," said Manisekaran adding MYS' aim was to disseminate the correct information on yoga practices in Malaysia.
"In Malaysia yoga is more of a treatment modality than a religious practice," he said adding that many doctors actually prescribe yoga for their patients.
"Yoga is used to treat an array of ailments including cancer, asthma, high blood pressure, stress and psychological conditions," said Manisekaran.
"Thus we have been encouraging more people to take up yoga as a firm of exercise," he added.
Manisekaran said this was also why the society had expected the national fatwa council to come up with a decision in favour of yoga.
"We have been telling people that there was no worry as in Malaysia everything is done through dialogue and mature discussion, but it turned out otherwise," he said.
"To us it is not much of a loss as to begin with we do not have many Muslim practitioners and students as there is already an existing fear of yoga among that community."
However it is sad that they will be losing out on enjoying the health benefit of this form of exercise and healing, said Manisekaran.
Maybe not the cool kids, just Egypt. And the fatwa council leader lied about Singapore banning yoga: It has not (the picture below is from a Singapore health club). Religiously deracinated yoga helps millions around world reduce stress without turning them into Hindus, but the fatwa council is anxious that some Muslims may be too weak to withstand 'the Hindu temptation.'
Salaam writes: By the intellectual lights of the Malaysian fatwa council, one would conclude that Hinduism - not Islam - is the fastest growing religion on the planet if we were to accept their paranoid fear that yoga is a gateway activity to Hindu conversion. The article below contains inaccurate facts in the first sentence. Yoga as practiced by Muslims and many other people does not necessarily include the Hindu prayer (the saying of aum or om), and if a teacher does recite the syllable, the Muslim participant does not. Also, most people outside of the Hindu faith who practice yoga do not seek "union with God" through the practice.
Why is yoga for stress reduction so important? See this article. Also know that many problems that afflict the Ummah, from marital discord to declining physical health, are aggravated, compounded or initiated by stress. The reason why yoga is so widely popular is because it is so effective. And unlike the alternatives suggested by the fatwa council, it can be practiced in the privacy of your own home while multi-tasking with other household activities.
Yoga is an ancient historical and cultural Asian tradition that has been drafted into the narrative of several Asian religions including the Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. Therefore it follows that gulf Arab cultural imperialist salafis and their local cutouts would seek to eliminate it.
If the Buddhists wake up tomorrow and claim the automobile as a Buddhist icon, will the fatwa council ban us all from driving? Or perhaps we should follow the local Wahhabi colonials to their inescapable religious conclusion that since cars (like yoga) didn't exist in the time of Muhammad, we shouldn't be driving anyway.
What Malaysians need now is a progressive, grassroots movement to take back their fatwa council. If the people who claim to represent the religion become so alien to the true deen that you become alienated, don't leave the religion, reclaim it.
From Al Arabiya News Channel: Outraged Malaysians were told by the country's top Islamic council Saturday to avoid yoga because it uses Hindu prayers and encourages a union with God that is blasphemous.
"Yoga is forbidden for Muslims. The practice will erode their faith in the religion," Abdul Shukor Husin, chairman of the government-backed National Fatwa Council, told reporters.
Yoga, an ancient Indian aid to meditation dating back thousands of years, is a popular stress-buster in Kuala Lumpur.
"There are other ways to get exercise and a peace of mind," Husin said, adding "you can go cycling, swimming and eat less fatty food."
Husin said yoga involved physical and religious elements of Hinduism including the recitation of mantras he also said the ban would not be implemented on non-Muslims.
"For us, yoga can destroy a Muslim's faith. But this is not a matter for the non-Muslims to be concerned about because it's not imposed on them. We are looking out for the Muslim community," he said, noting Egypt and Singapore had issued similar rulings.
Malaysians outraged Malaysians have expressed outrage in blogs and letters to the editor since the council first announced a few weeks ago it was considering a fatwa against yoga.
"I wonder what's going to happen to the health clubs here in Malaysia... will they be forced to put up a 'No Muslims allowed' sign during their yoga classes?", said a posting at a popular Malaysian fitness blog, (www.thedailymuscle.com).
Social commentator Marina Mahathir, daughter of former prime minister Mahathir Mohammad, questioned the council's priorities.
"What endangers a society more... corrupt citizens and leaders, or yoga practitioners and females who dress in a masculine fashion?" she said in a recent column in the Star newspaper.
"Yet there are so many of us who are unwilling to trust our own conscience and would prefer to trust the robed and the turbaned to make rulings on things which we should be able to judge on our own," she said.
The protesters claimed that Muslim women should have the right over how they wanted to express themselves or dress.
GOMBAK: Non-Muslim Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have been warned against interfering in matters involving Islamic laws or risk facing severe action by police.
Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said this following a string of remarks made by various NGOs in connection with the National Fatwa Council's edict on tomboys and proposed announcement ruling against yoga exercises.
"NGOs must respect the Fatwa council's decision on Islamic matters and not interfere in the matter.
"Their actions and comments can cause a lot friction which could lead to fighting," he said.
Earlier during a seminar in Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia here, Musa said there was no reason for non-Muslims to feel threatened by the council's fatwa because it was only meant for Muslims.
"I will not hesitate to take stern action against these NGOs if they continue to fan sentiments," he warned.
Last week, several protesters walked through the city centre denouncing the National Fatwa Council's decision against tomboys.
The protesters claimed that Muslim women should have the right over how they wanted to express themselves or dress.
The protesters, comprising women from two groups and several men, marched from Jalan Ampang to KLCC, while chanting slogans, carrying banners and distributing pamphlets to passers-by.
