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If it were indeed true that the faith of Muslims who practice yoga was being eroded, then would it not also be logical to ban them from learning Balinese dance, watching wayang (shadow puppets) and admiring the greatness of the Borobudur temple? The Jakarta Post Editorial
Once again the venerable members of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) are engaged in things which need not be of concern. Instead of bringing serenity, they are squandering their time and attention on issues that serve only to unsettle a finely balanced society. News that the MUI may put time into debating whether the practice of yoga runs contrary to Islam is an irritating turn of events. The impetus: Simply aping their Malaysian counterparts who over the weekend issued an edict barring Malaysian Muslims from engaging in yoga. The argument: Yoga contains ascetic Hindu practices that could corrupt the faith of Muslim practitioners. The logic: Absurd! Fear of syncretism between yoga and Islam is preposterous because yoga itself is not a religion. Even if it were, the practice of any religion, or even apostasy for that matter, is exclusively within the private domain of each citizen. Abdul Shukor Husin, chairman of Malaysia's National Fatwa Council, was quoted by The Star as saying that "Yoga is forbidden for Muslims". When asked what Muslims can do as an alternative, his response was anachronistic: "Go cycling, swimming and eat less fatty food." If it were indeed true that the faith of Muslims who practice yoga was being eroded, then would it not also be logical to ban them from learning Balinese dance, watching wayang (shadow puppets) and admiring the greatness of the Borobudur temple? Would a Muslim art lover not be considered a heretic for hanging an aesthetic picture of Buddha on the wall? Yoga may have arisen from the matrix of the old Hindu culture but its roots, according to noted University of Chicago historian Mircea Eliade, can be traced back to the pre-Hindu tradition of Indian shamanism. In modern times the practice of yoga carries little trace of Hinduism. Yoga is generally practiced as a way to ease the aching body and soothe the restless spirit. For laymen, yoga is nothing more than an advanced form of physical stretching or a relaxing mode of meditation. No different really from a spa or massage on a lazy weekend. There are just as many detractors of yoga as converts who have found the "exercise" beneficial to their own faith. Frenchman J. Dechanet wrote a book on Christian Yoga and Indian author Ashraf Nizami hailed the benefits of yoga when he penned The Yoga of Islam more than three decades ago. In fact, many aspects of the physical act of Islamic prayer, known as sholat, are analogous to the stretching and meditation found in yoga. Sadly, the Malaysian religious council is not the first to ban Muslims from practicing yoga. Four years ago, a similar edict was issued in Egypt. We are fearful of this growing trend to conservatism, in which we see unelected religious clerics, who claim to answer only to God and have no accountability to the masses, exaggerate their hold on political opinion to the detriment of society at large. We are concerned that the MUI, and our society is general, is too often flung into simplistic and symbolistic dogmas of little intellectual substance which serve only to create unrest and beget parochialism. We are suspicious that their ultimate objective may not be to project reason, understanding and a sense of community, but rather to augment their own waning stranglehold on an ignorant society by provoking divisive fear. If the MUI wishes to sustain its eroding sense of self-respect, we cannot but urge it to refrain from making unnecessary edicts that do not even warrant consideration. Our clerics have historically been leaders of society in times of hardship. Their preferences over the past few years, however, have demoted such councils to a budding joke likely to be ignored by an increasingly critical society. If each and every individual can find God and truth in his or her own wise, appropriate way, then clerics will become nothing more than missionaries for a godless religion.
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