MUSLIMS in Indonesia have been banned from doing yoga if they engage in Hindu religious rituals during the exercise, the chairman of the country's top Islamic body said yesterday.
About 700 scholars from the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) agreed on the action late yesterday at a national meeting in West Sumatra province, Ma'ruf Amin told said by telephone.
"The yoga practice that contains religious rituals of Hinduism including the recitation of mantras is 'haram' (forbidden in Islam)," he said.
"Muslims should not practise other religious rituals as it will erode and weaken their Islamic faith," he added.
But Amin said that Indonesian Muslims were still allowed to do yoga strictly as exercise.
"If it is purely a physical exercise or sport, it is not considered as 'haram,"' he added.
Religious edicts issued by the MUI are not legally binding on Muslims but it is considered sinful to ignore them.
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