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Yoga on Jimbaran beach in Bali. Photograph: Sonny Tumbelaka//AFP/Getty Images
Yoga on Jimbaran beach in Bali. Photograph: Sonny Tumbelaka//AFP/Getty Images

Indonesian clerics ban Muslims from practising yoga

This article is more than 15 years old
Fatwa issued on exercise if it includes Hindu rituals

Indonesia has joined Malaysia in banning Muslims from practising yoga that includes Hindu rituals, fearing that it may corrupt their faith.

The country's senior body of Islamic clerics ruled that Muslims must refrain from yoga if it involves elements such as chanting mantras, which reflect its Hindu roots.

The edict came after the 700-strong Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) sent study teams to gyms and yoga classes across the country to see what effect Hindu rituals might have on Muslims.

When Malaysia's fatwa council told Muslims they should avoid yoga last year, the ruling provoked such strong opposition that the prime minister, Abdullah Badawi, stepped in to overturn the outright ban.

Badawi said Malaysia's Muslims could still practise yoga provided they did not recite mantras.

Indonesia's clerics decided to follow Malaysia's nuanced stance, saying they had no objection to yoga if used solely as an aid to fitness. But Ma'ruf Amin, chairman of the MUI, said: "Yoga practice that contains religious rituals of Hinduism, including the recitation of mantras is 'haram' [forbidden]. Muslims should not practise other religious rituals as it will erode and weaken their Islamic faith."

The council's ruling is not legally binding but most of Indonesia's Muslims, who make up 90% of the country's 234-million population, are likely to follow the decree.

Mony Suriany, who established Yoga @ 42 Degrees four years ago, gave testimony to the group which visited her studio in Jakarta, where yoga is increasingly popular with expatriates and Indonesia's middle classes.

"They came to my studio three times at short notice," she said. "One time they took pictures and asked how many Muslims were in the classes. But afterwards they said they saw nothing suspicious; that the classes had nothing to do with religion.

"I have Muslim women who cover their hair with scarves. They're open-minded and their intention is to exercise. Our Bikram hot yoga is 100% physical. There's no chanting."

But Suriany said some other studios around the country do use chanting as part of the yoga and might fall foul of the fatwa.

"I'm disappointed the council made this decision, because we keep emphasising that it's nothing to do with religion. But in the end I'm not worried because our style is purely exercise and they made that distinction," she said.

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