your say ‘The fatwa issued by the National Fatwa Council's on the practice of yoga by Muslims as haram should be left alone for the Muslim community and their leaders to deal with.'

S Mohan: The fatwa issued by the National Fatwa Council's on the practice of yoga by Muslims as haram should be left alone for the Muslim community and their leaders to deal with.

They will be the best persons to judge what is right or wrong for their community. Though I personally feel that the blanket ban is not right, however who am I to say that as I am not a Muslim.

What upset me is the news about S Samy Vellu wanting to meet with the PM over this yoga ban. So tell me Samy, what you are going to achieve by doing so and why are you interfering with other people's religious affairs?

Don't you have any better matter to discuss with the PM? What about the welfare of the Indian people or the poor state of the estate workers in face of a global economic slowdown or the Hindraf issue etc.

As a Hindu myself, I don't feel any anxiety as claimed by the MIC head. I feel sorry for my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters but not to the extent of losing my temper or becoming too emotional.

Therefore my two cents advice to him is ‘back off' as we don't need you to make this into a political issue and create racial tension which I think we all can avoid right now.

I guess there are other competent leaders and organisations in the Muslim community that can speak out. We can share in our support to but leave the questioning to them.

So Samy and the MIC, don't try to score brownie points on this issue. Try championing the right reason for once.

On 'Fatwa on karate next?'

Fauzul: I totally disagree with all the comments either from Muslims on non-Muslims that reject the ban on yoga by the National Fatwa Council.

It is the responsibility of the Fatwa Council to alert all Muslims on something that is not right or can lead to something wrong.

It is so sad that there are some ‘Muslims' who think they are so smart in giving statements which they think as ‘logically correct'.

For non-Muslims, please be clear that the ban is only applies to Muslims. Please respect the decision.

For those Muslims who do not know much about religion, please stop from giving any statement that will make the non-Muslims even more confused. One of the problems these days is people who know little but talk much!

Please be informed that the National Fatwa Council won't simply issue a fatwa without first discussing the matter among all the ulama either within or outside the council.

Aisha: Have Umno/PAS/PKR issued any 'formal complaints' on the banning of yoga by the National Fatwa Council? They will not dare. Ask why.

Apparently non-Muslims underestimate the influence the National Fatwa Council has on the Malay-Muslim community.

Cynical comments are being published without regards to communal sensitivities. For those who think racial tension is bad, try religion.

Fatwa are meant for and only for the Muslim community and on rulings which were previously unclear.

New fatwa are not issued on rape, murder or money politics simply because their rulings have existed for centuries and will not change.

Khairil Anuar: I think non-Muslim readers should not comment on this matters. They do not have the right to do so unless they really understand what is Islam and what are the teachings.

Moreover, this fatwa does not affect anything to you or your religion. How can you guys judge about this fatwa if you do not fully understand what is Islam or the teachings of Islam.

This fatwa does not ban you guys from performing yoga - not at all. So please stop. This only concerns Muslims.

I dare your readers to read the whole Quran, to fully understand the teachings, and then tell me which part about it is not right.

If you can find even one mistake in it, I'm sure Islam is not the right religion to follow.

Cosmic Bro: Why not ban mathematics in terms of the number system we use? Also the decimal system and the number ‘zero'.

Indians claim that their pure knowledge is inspired from the divine and the transcendent by the Vedic rishis. It is thus universal. These originated from Sanskrit specifically the Bhrami script.

The Arabs took them. Khwarizmi was the first Arab to describe the Hindu numerals.

Raj: It is getting more and more apparent that the Islamists are getting more bold in disintegrating Malaysian society through impeccable fatwa recently. There is no choice given to the Muslim people to chose which type of yoga they can participate in.

On one hand, the council mentioned that if the so-called three types of elements were present, yoga should not be followed.

What if the elements are not present? Why are they still not allowed to do it? What if the instructor is a Muslim?

The ways things are going, I am getting more nervous about living in this country. Is there going to be a fatwa to ban Muslims from visiting Chinese New Year, Deepavalli and Christmas open houses?

Are they going to ban Muslims from being friends with Hindus, Christians or Buddhists? Are they going to ban Muslims from having non-Muslim neighbours?

After all, all this may lead to a so-called erosion of a Muslim's faith since they can be influenced by the non-Muslims.

For example, maybe the Muslims can be influenced by the deities the non-Muslims have in their houses or the chanting of mantras or the burning of incense sticks in the neighbours house - all which could affect Muslims' strong belief in Islam.

KL 001: Now that Muslims are officially banned from practising yoga, I can see a slew of other activities that will be banned to Muslims as they also may have religious connotations.

What an insult to Muslims and particularly women. Insulting women and belittling them seems to be the main target of these men.

There are more important issues to focus on. Is the National Fatwa Council truly doing what is good for Muslims or is it just a political gimmick for the ruling parties?

May I ask the National Fatwa Council to come out with other fatwa to assist affected Muslims (and non-Muslims) in this country?

One example is the 4D and Lotto games, which I see a increasing number of Muslims playing. Isn't our finance minister a Muslim too?

Instead of reducing the number of draws, we saw an increase in the number of draws once he became finance minister.

Gambling will affect the livelihood of the rakyat but enrich the gaming companies.

A Nony Mous: I asked a yoga-practicing Malay friend of mine if she was going to give up yoga now following the recent fatwa against yoga.

Her response was that smoking has been haram in Selangor for more than 10 years, and yet none of our Malay smoker friends/colleagues have given up smoking. In fact, the number of smoking Malays we know has increased (‘forbidden fruit' effect?).

She was not that disturbed by this fatwa or the National Fatwa Council. Like many other fatwa issued by the various fatwa committees in Malaysia, it will just become another fatwa most Malays will be blissfully oblivious of or just not bother to heed even if brought to their attention.

She is, in fact, more upset with the media and non-Muslims for kicking up such fuss about this yoga fatwa now - which may then force the various state authorities to enforce this and other fatwas.

In 1995, Selangor issued a fatwa that smoking was haram . The BN-led Selangor state government did not pay any attention to its own Jawatankuasa Perunding Hukum Syara's fatwa since it did not enact any laws to enforce the fatwa .

In fact, none of the Malay BN lawmakers who were smokers bothered to respect the fatwa and just kept on smoking.

Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Sarawak have similar state level fatwa against smoking. Why is there no national level fatwa against smoking?

Is the National Fatwa Council more worried about their perceived ‘ill-effects' of health-promoting yoga exercises than it is of the scientifically proven detrimental effects of the smoking habit? Or has the tobacco industry got to them?

Confused: As a non-Muslim (non-practicing Christian), I am constantly totally amazed at how many things are regarded as ‘confusing' or likely to shake the belief of Muslims in their Islamic faith.

Islam is no doubt a compassionate and understanding total way of life for its observants, who number billions on this teeming planet.

I have tried, but failed to understand therefore why Muslims continuously feel very easily confused and (and patronised) and become instantly defensive about the smallest issue that, in their perspective, might cause their followers to deviate from the decreed path.

This includes the need to ensure that any Muslim who wishes to exercise his/her right to self determination when it comes to their inner beliefs be dealt with.

Is it not time that Muslims felt more secure in their beliefs than be frightened of such relatively unimportant issues as to whether they be allowed to practice yoga or not?

On Anwar's motion on economy rejected

Malaysian-Thru-And-Thru:

I am sick of reading of these rejections by the speakers in Parliament over the issue of the failing economy of this country.

The only people oblivious to the real sufferings of this country are the ones sitting in golden high thrones and taking bribes big enough to feed the entire nation.

Whilst other countries are gearing up for the inevitable, our dumb politicians are sitting in Parliament arguing about which race is not getting enough.

Come on, BN MPs, stop making yourselves the laughing stock of the world.

Get down to work and start taking some real action over the failing economy before I become another emigration statistic.

On Najib completes the 'Rahman prophecy'

Mat Al-Jajawi: I have never heard of a more imbecilic 'prophecy' than this and wonder who was the smart Alec who started it, as if Malaysia does not have enough follies already.

The first prime minister was not Rahman, but Tunku Abdul Rahman. So his name starts with a ‘T' and not R. Even if one drops the Tunku part, his name will start with an ‘A'.

Granted that in the case of the second PM, his name was Abdul Razak Hussein; so the first letter of his name is obviously ‘A'. Similarly, Hussein Onn's name fits into the ‘prophecy' as it starts with an ‘H.'

So do the two succeeding PM's Dr Mahathir Mohamed and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. When it comes to Najib, his name is Mohammed Najib Abdul Razak, so his first letter is an ‘M', not an ‘N'.

In summary, the prophecy is correct only in four out of six cases - or two-thirds correct. Granted this fraction happens to coincide with the parliamentary majority required to amend the Malaysian constitution.

But to use this ‘performance' to justify the prophecy is ridiculous and shows how naive we Malaysians can be.

I would have thought that for a country that boasts of having launched a man into space, this kind of prophecy would have been nipped in the bud, when it first appeared in the 1970s.

Using the true first letters of the five names who have been prime ministers, and Najib who is tipped to be the next one, their first letters spell ‘Tahmam'.

The nearest Arabic word that comes closest to this is tuhmah . It means an accusation. Readers please check other languages.