Yoga has Indian Muslims bent out of shape
Imams try to take a conciliatory tack as debate spreads in Islamic world over exercise's Hindu overtones
STEPHANIE NOLEN
From Friday's Globe and Mail
February 6, 2009 at 4:05 AM EST
NEW DELHI — From the land that brought the enlightenment of the Buddha, the didactic drama of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata and the wisdom of the Sikh gurus comes a question to give pause to spiritual seekers of all kinds: Can Muslims do yoga?
Technically, of course, they probably can, with a little practice and some stretchy pants.
But should they?
Some hardliners say no way, arguing it is a Hindu practice that is inappropriate, possibly even blasphemous, for Muslims.
Pujiastuti Sindhu, a Muslim woman, teaches yoga at her studio in Bandung, Indonesia, late last month. This week, clerics in Indonesia ruled against yoga, as have imams in Singapore and Egypt, on the grounds that it is a Hindu invention. Enny Nuraheni/Reuters
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Pujiastuti Sindhu, a Muslim woman, teaches yoga at her studio in Bandung, Indonesia, late last month. This week, clerics in Indonesia ruled against yoga, as have imams in Singapore and Egypt, on the grounds that it is a Hindu invention. (Enny Nuraheni/Reuters)
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But while a few Hindu fundamentalists say they don't want their practice done by Muslims anyway, most take a more moderate line, that the purpose of yoga is clarity of mind and better health, appropriate for people of all faiths.
The debate actually began in Malaysia, where a Muslim religious council ruled last fall that yoga had intrinsic Hindu elements and that yogic practice could "destroy the faith" of Muslims.
The fatwa caught the attention of other bodies of Islamic jurisprudence; Muslim leaders in Egypt and Singapore asked their faithful to abandon the downward-facing dog until they'd studied the issue. This week, clerics in Indonesia ruled against yoga.
The furor has spilled over into India, birthplace of yoga and home to the world's third-largest Muslim population. But here, in a country that has been plagued by communal violence, most Muslim leaders have taken a conciliatory approach.
"As far as I know yoga, it's a form of physical and mental exercise to keep oneself fit and fight against diseases," mused Maulana Arshad Madani, the president of Jamiat Ulama i-Hind, the umbrella organization of Indian Muslims.
"So as long as it is in this form, I don't see why Islam should object to it. I don't associate it with Hinduism or Christianity. I just take it as a form of exercise good for one's being."
But as is often the case in India, the debate has political overtones. Last year, schools in the central state of Madhya Pradesh ordered students to practise yoga before class, ostensibly in an effort to clear their minds.
But soon Muslim organizations and other political parties were alleging this was a stealth campaign by the Hindu-nationalist government to form young converts. The school campaign went on in fits and starts.
The Jamiat Ulama wants yoga kept out of schools, but Mr. Madani said individual practitioners can avoid spiritual damage simply by skipping the chanting of the sacred Sanskrit syllable om, with which yoga practice usually concludes, and either remaining silent, or else chanting Allah.
Others in his organizations have commented on the similarities between the Muslim salaat (the bending and kneeling motions of prayer) and yogic asana.
There is also a resemblance between yoga and some of the motions, and the repetitive chanting of God's name, associated with Sufi meditative practice.
Manoj Kumar, the stylish and sinewy yoga instructor to some of Delhi's best-known actors and fashion designers, is amused by the fuss.
A former player on India's national under-19 cricket team, Mr. Kumar was introduced to yoga in cricket training, and said that Muslim, Hindu and Christian players all found it equally valuable.
Today he has Muslims among his students, most of whom never consider any religious connotation and a few of whom skip the chanting of om in their lessons.
"No om, no problem," he said.
snolen@globeandmail.com |
