Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia's National Fatwa Council today said that it will soon issue a ruling on whether Muslims in this multi-ethnic country will be allowed to practice Yoga.

"The practitioners will know within this week the council's decision," National Fatwa Council chairman Dr Abdul Shukor Husin told reporters today referring to a decision on performing yoga by Muslims. He said that he had already given the council a draft of the edict last week.

"The draft needed to be checked a few times because a fatwa was equivalent to a court's decision," Husin said. However, he declined to say whether the edict would ban the practice, adding the fatwa would explain everything.

The controversial issue came into light after Zakaria Stapa, a lecturer of Islamic studies, advised Muslims who had taken up yoga to stop practising it saying it could deviate from the teachings of Islam. His remark and subsequent announcements by the Council on an imminent Fatwa drew protests from many Muslims who said they practiced yoga because they had benefited by it and that their religion had not been affected.

Meanwhile, a prominent Islamic leader here warned that Muslims and NGOs should respect fatwa issued by religious authorities as all such rulings were based on Koran and Sunnah (traditions of the Prophet). Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat of the Islamic PAS party was responding to a recent protest by non-Muslim NGOs against a ruling by the Fatwa Council on tomboyish behaviour. "If we go against it, that means we are breaking the law. Just like violating police or traffic laws. Are we that strong to go against Allah?" he remarked. He said not only non-Muslims but also Muslims could not protest against any fatwa.

Source : PTI