No bar on practising yoga, observe Ulemas

 
Ramdev, who participated at the national convention of Islamic seminaries held under the auspices of Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind on its concluding day, recalled the contribution of the Muslims in the freedom struggle and development of the country and stressed the need for ‘Hindu-Muslim unity’.

“Be it the first war of indpendence or the development of the country, the contribution of the Muslims cannot be ignored,” the yoga guru said referring to Bahadur Shah Zafar, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Ashfaqullah Khan and former president A P J Abdul Kalam.

He cautioned the Muslims against the designs of the political parties and said that the Hindus and Muslims must remain united as only then the country’s progress would be ensured. Although Ramdev was scheduled to demonstrate his yoga skills, it was deferred to some other date as it was a religious convention, sources at Deoband said.

Jamiat general secretary and MP Maulana Mahmood Madni and other clerics however supported yoga saying that it was ‘a type of exercise’ and there was nothing wrong in practising it if done keeping in view the tenets of Islam.

There had been some controversy on whether Muslims could perform yoga as it involved chanting of some ‘mantras’ and actions like ‘Surya Namaskara’.

The three-day meet witnessed a ‘fatwa’ against reciting ‘Vande Mataram’ terming it ‘un-Islamic’. It also saw strong opposition to the proposed Central Madarsa Board mooted by Union Minister Kapil Sibal. In an another important resolution adopted at the meet, the Jamiat leader Madni invited the Maoists and Naxalites to give up their armed struggle. The meet also denounced ‘jihad’ in the name of religion.