Ban on Yoga to be implemented after state rulers' consent

Kuala Lumpur, Nov 25 (PTI) A decision of Malaysia's highest religious body barring Muslims from practicing Yoga can be implemented only after the consent of the religious leaders of the respective states in the country, a top official of an Islamic organisation said Tuesday.

It is the prerogative of the state religious authorities
and their rulers to accept or reject National Fatwa Council's
decision to bar Muslims from practising yoga, the official
said after a meeting with the country's state religious
council heads here.

Department of Islamic Development Malaysia
director-general Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abd Aziz said the
council's Fatwa (edict) would be discussed in the state fatwa
committees, whose members were appointed by their respective
rulers.

Malaysia has 13 states and each state has its Sultan.

"After it is agreed upon by the committees, the matter
will then be presented to the various state religious councils
before it is brought for the Sultan's consent. This is the
process of how a fatwa is implemented in the state," he was
quoted as saying by local media reports.

Rejecting to implement the council's Fatwa issued on
Saturday, the Sultan of Selangor has said that the state Fatwa
Committee had yet to deliberate on the matter.

Another state, Perak's Religious Department director
Datuk Jamry Sury, who had earlier been quoted as saying that
the state would abide by the fatwa, retracted his statement a
day later. PTI JB
SAK
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