Drawing a striking parallel between Islamic practices and yoga, a section of Muslim scholars have declared that ‘Maharshi Patanjali’, the founder of the discipline in the 2nd century BC, never linked yoga with any religion or stream of worship and that it “essentially” remains a “magic chant” for all to keep a good health.
The Government on Wednesday came out with a booklet titled ‘Yoga and Islam’ carrying their views apparently to put a lid on the controversy after some sections of Muslims voiced their opinions against performing certain yogic postures.
The booklet in Hindi seeks to “bust” apprehensions of Muslims over countrywide Yoga exercises on the first International Yoga day on June 21. The book has been put together by Dr Imran Choudhary and Abhijeet Singh and published by ‘Muslim Rashtriya Manch’.
Stating that ‘Namaz’ incorporates postures and language practiced during Yoga, Muslim scholars have in the book dismissed what they said “disinformation” spread by vested interests that Yoga was “un-Islamic”.
The booklet released by Union Minister of AYUSH Sripad Naik here has argued that a majority of Muslim countries and Islamic scholars have fully supported yoga and quoted Malaysian `Sultan` expressing his unhappiness over some fundamentalists describing it as “non-Islamic”.