Yoga banned for Muslims in Malaysia

Malaysia’s top Islamic body issued an edict today that prohibits Muslims from practising yoga, saying that elements of Hinduism in the ancient Indian exercise could corrupt them.

The National Fatwa Council’s chairman, Abdul Shukor Husin, said many Muslims fail to understand that yoga’s ultimate aim is to be one with a god of a different religion – an explanation disputed by many practitioners who say yoga need not have a religious element.