Wednesday, October 29, 2008

WTF?!!?


Since we're on the topic of fatwas & hot on the heels of their war on tomboys; let's have a look at the latest outburst of "wisdom" from the National Fatwa Council.

Fatwa on yoga out soon
PENANG, Oct 29 - The National Fatwa Council will come out with a ruling relating to yoga exercise soon.

The announcement would be made by the council's chairman, Prof Datuk Dr Abdul Shukor Husin, said Deputy Director-General (Operations) of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) Othman Mustapha.

He told reporters this after opening the two-day seminar on Islamic Jurisprudence and Eternal Islamic Thinking at Universiti Sains Malaysia jointly organised by the Islamic Studies Division of the university's Human Knowledge Study Centre and Jakim here today.Yesterday, lecturer Prof Zakaria Stapa of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Islamic Studies Centre advised Muslims who have taken up yoga to stop practising it for fear that it could deviate their belief. - Bernama


Now some will see such a posting as an exercise in Islam-bashing. But one cannot but feel such pronouncements lead to the kind of myopia that divides people. And while it only applies to Muslims, me feels that such insularity and exclusiveness will only be a breeding ground fer IGNORANCE.

Its an exercise la fer fook's sake. The fact that such complaints were heard in many rural American towns a few years back ("un-Christian practices") only show where our religious authorities are heading . . . down that road with the GREAT SATAN AMERIKA SYARIKAT!

Fooking Bodoh!

ps: WTF?!!? = What the Fatwa?!!? (Pls note this is not an anti-Islam posting rather tis an anti-stupidity posting).

pps: Perhaps they are afraid Muslims practising Yoga might turn into Hindraf sympathisers . . .

35 comments:

psychomocha said...

Dear AD,

When I was in boarding school, doing my A-Levels before in Mill Hill School, London - there were very few girls (Girls were only the 6th Formers) and it was compulsory for ALL of us girls to sing in the School Choir. We sang in Chapel everyday for the service before classes started.I am a Muslim and still sang hymns ok? FFS - as far am I was concerned, it was just singing. What's the biggie? All boils down to your niat la. Think if this ulama came to find out what I did before - confirm they'd label me something else k? And FFS, Yoga IS blardy exercise and a form of meditation. Which I hope to pick up soon too!!

anfield devotee said...

If only you were on the National Fatwa Council, dear psychomocha . . .

Bernard said...

So by analogy, if a Muslim or Hindu was to indulge in all manner of Chinese style kung fu, the fear then is that the said Muslim or Hindu may be led astray to be a Buddhist or Taoist follower? Ditto if one was to practise Karate, Judo, Kendo & other Japanese martial art he or she may turn to Shintoism?

Does JAKIM have a separate department known as Department of Irrational Thinking?

anfield devotee said...

Bernard: Jabatan Orang Bodoh?

ps: Tentative date fer next meet 22nd Nov. Ok fer you?

Bernard said...

When it comes to drinks, makan & all round good time, have I ever disappointed???

Jon-C said...

OMG, this whole thing is turning into a joke! Never mind Muslims who practices yoga for health reasons, how about those that are Yoga instructors? The council gonna give them pay check every month to stop?

anfield devotee said...

JonC & Akuani: What the mighty US can do (or parts of it); so can we . . .


Malaysia Boleh at its very best . . .

senorita.. said...

i once went to some seminar organised by a church (dragged by fren) and was told to not practise yoga, take pics in front of temples etc things like that.

yoga stems from Hinduism aint it, so yeah..

senorita.. said...

ps:am not painting a bad picture on Christianity but just to say that this is not new

Anba said...

You know bro...
regarding this whole thingy...
I'm just waiting for the day when they ban all hindu names...

Fer example
Siva,Narayanan Saravanan,Subramaniam,Ganesan...Bala Chandran...
cause technically you're calling out the name of hindu gods ...and thats a no no rite...
How can you call out the name of hindu gods...when you are not a hindu..
mana boleh...?
and when this day comes...
Frens...i'm goin to migrate to Finland..or Sweden or..Norway...
The Home of Heavy Fookin Metal...
and good lookin chix (Swedish Gals....ahem...

anfield devotee said...

senorita: Correct, it's not new. But that don't mean we shouldn't oppose such divisive teachings.

Do not be fooled by those who say 'this only affects Muslims, so let it be'; eventually the schisms will become so wide as to be irrepairable.

Me BN friend still thinks bloggers are the root cause of all the problems (not chedet.com though conveniently enough) & that we are party to DESTROYING the Malaysian paradise. But of course, shite like this is conveniently ignored.

anba: Well, wouldn't surprise me at all as some fellas already say wishing yer non-Muslim friends 'A happy CNY/Diwali/X'mas' is unIslamic.

In fact, yer suggestion sound so outragous that it might just come true.

And while such protests/pronoucements have happened elsewhere doesn't make it allrite fer it to happen here as well.

Tinesh said...

Department of Eternal Thinking? Really now? The best thing to do is to ignore these fuckers la

Anonymous said...

haahaha...i was about to post something about this but decided not to...who knows if i hurt this fatwa feelings and wait they do some jampi on me...

this is fooking mad...soon...they will come out with some rules about communication between muslims and non-muslims...maybe non-muslims are threat to their Islam purity as well...

fat (cantonese) wa (hokkien) means "punish me"...so no wonder their role as the punisher...

Afif said...

Yup, it is haram alright. We should ban them long time ago :)

Azer Mantessa said...

nonsense and i agree with you, yoga is exercise NOT really religious matter.

i wonder, will they haram exercise too.

what a nonsense.

anfield devotee said...

afif: Are u being serious? What next? Ban Liverpool games from TV as we can't have Muslims supporting a team which has a Jew & Carlsberg plastered across the front?

azer: Corruption? Adultery? Me suppose these are less important issues than YOGA.

Achilles said...

AD: This is what happens when you put a pack of brainless monkeys in charge... and who have nothing to do. so they sit and pull out priceless pieces of shit like this from their ass.

I wonder what else they will ban next?

Ban people from doing exercise?

Close down gyms because they are promoting exercise?

Punnish anyone who says the word exercise or solicits exercise?

ISA for anyone who even thinks of exercise privately?

Blow up someone who asks about exercise?

nanda666 said...

What I really would like to know is....Why educated people (i.e. Prof, Dr, etc, etc) say the darnest things in the name of religion?? Not just here but all over the world and for a very long time. Guess we can go back to the knights of the crusades....root cause of irrational thinking stems from the irrational concept of religion itself, right? Hehehehe...just my "atheist" 2 cents worth la....

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

as a muslim, my suggestion is to carry on practising on the technical side of the exercise while spiritually Quranic versus can be used. after all, its one good way to berzikir, it makes one feel more relaxed. i think its more about finding solution than to simply ban on certain matters.

*22nd nov is on saturday. fuck footie night, count me in!

Unknown said...

AD: looks like 22nd is on then eh? I tell mom me out with you (dunno if that will get me a green light or a frown - haahhahaha)

Kerp: That's a good way to look at things. Same as the Indian Christians who get their knickers in a knot if you talk about Bharata Natyam (one being me dad) - me sis and me had to stop learning just to get him off our backs! But yes the dance form is a form of devotion to the Gods, but if you open your mind to it, you can use the same dance form in a Christian context ... which is how I approached it.

So indeed instead of banning without understanding and out of fear and the desire to be publicly holier than the next person, why not use the fundamentals and infuse it with one's own fate teachings?

KERP: I'm still voting you PM :)) see ya soon Kerpie!

Life's Like That said...

Donno abt u ppl but I can't wait to hear the reasons the Fatwa Council will give if they decide to ban yoga for muslims! That ought to be a hoot!

theALBERTUS said...

Was it not Karl Marx that said religion is the opiate of the masses? This goes to show how diluted religion can be when religion becomes an organized bureaucracy.

Oh yeah! Not to pouring cold water on anyone but Liverpool is No. 1 for now and I hope it stays that way for the next 7 months!

theALBERTUS said...

Also, AD please tell your BN fren who called us bloggers the root of evil of democracy that he is FOOKING FASCIST PIG!!!!

How bout one day getting his rights trampled on! EEEEJJIT! Tell the fella that theALBERUS is antiFASCIST!

senorita.. said...

what do u reckon Muslims could do? fatwa is like the authority governing Muslims am i right (please correct me if i m wrong)? can they go about challenging this ruling?

anfield devotee said...

kerp: Great suggestion. Level headed & common sense. But am sure the fools who came up with this ruling will not use such common sense approach.
ps: Don't worry, we'll make it early lar if there's footie on. So tentative date is Nov22. Will put posting up shortly.

akuani: Whaddya mean "frown"? Harummph? Me is a Saint in yer mum's eyes.
Haiyo, yer dad also another one of them ah? tsk, tsk.

Albertus: No point la telling people like that. They will never see it. Facism, corruption etc all acceptable coz BN is god.

Nanda: "root cause of irrational thinking stems from the irrational concept of religion itself, right?

Yes, 2 sens is rite. Even you can see that religion has become a useful tool in the hands of irresponsible parties. Whether its Hindus using temple to make money or Muslims issuing fatwas, many terrible things have been done in the name of religion. But is that religion's fault?

To apply yer reasoning, then you could say ATHEIST regimes such as Soviet Russia under Stalin & Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge were responsible fer some serious genocide. Would it be fair to say all atheists are mass murderers?

Can we pin paranoia & ethnic cleansing as atheist's traits?

No rite? So why pin irrational thinking on religion?

Bernard said...

Nov 22 - LFC v Fulham.

No news yet whether this will be shown live but most likely the prime slots would be a pick from : Villa v ManUre, Chelski v Newcastle or Man City v The Arse

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

Akka anita,

Talking about dads, mine would surely find this latest move as absurd. Unfortunately, we rarely shares anything in common. Like the ketuanan melayu case, I think he’s quite supportive of the cause. Lets face it la, all of us are racist to a certain extent.


Bala/bernard,

Lets just stick to nov22. stressful or otherwise, I still am gonna enjoy my dinner. Not giving much hope of landing the coveted title this year. Dah campak tuala la kira.

anfield devotee said...

kerp: eh, wenger has already indicated he has a target or two during Jan window, so who knows where you'll be come May.

Yer dad is supportive of 'Ketuanan Melayu'? Hmmmmm . . .

Jon-C said...

As per ya h/phone call earlier, i'll be seeing you on Sat, 22nd Nov.

Hmmmm, come to think of it, when ya actually go learn yoga in those commercialize health clubs / gyms, do they teach you Hinduism?

anfield devotee said...

JonC: Obviously not. But me remembers reading bout the Christian protest in the US & they said many yoga moves were a tribute to some god or another, so go figure.

reena said...

i have asked u this before - why do u still refer to that BN supporting muthafucker as your fren. anyone who supports BN is either racist or supports racist policies and either way, they are shit.

about that ban on yoga, i don't think it's that absurd. sure many instructors may just stick to the technical/physical aspects, but yoga still has its roots in religion doesn't it. like wayang kulit.
i mean it's fine if u can separate it, but not everyone can, or believe that their interpretation of their religion allows them to.

Jon-C said...

Well, in the case of wayang kulit, the purist told me that usually they will baca "ayat" or have some sort ceremony at the start before a performance. So in away does that actually also contradicts the teaching of Islam?

anfield devotee said...

JonC: That's why PAS banned wayang kulit in Kelantan. Sad. Coz instead of trying to preserve this integral part of Malaysian culture, they are only looking fer ways to destroy it.

Solution: Set up schools where non-Muslim students can learn this art from the Tok Dalang. Sooner or later, it will be performed by non-Muslims. Thus preserving this important slice of our heritage.

reena: He's a friend la, what to do.

With regards to Yoga, of course, it can be seprated. Its all bout intention. If you do the exercise purely as a form of physical exertion, then there's no harm. Furthermore, if a person is to dedicate their mind to their "own God", shouldn't that make it ok?

Still, it is ludicrous that the Fatwa Council sees this as a greater threat to Muslim practice & beliefs when rampant corruption is not.

Wonder which will destroy society more? Performing yoga or indulging in under table money?

Praxi said...

Why don't we leave it to people to choose for themselves? Adults are well capable of doing that, children have parents for guidance.

Not the right time to say such shit and defs a stupid thing to say anyways anytime.

Unknown said...

**tsk tsk tsk Kerpie**