5 minutes and never a title

Recently there was this furore about Majlis Fatwa going about discussing whether or not Yoga, is haram or not.

Taken from the blog RantingsbyMM by Marina Mahathir, I find this comment from one of the reader most interesting indeed and have decided to put it all here for all to read/see/talk/discuss with friends. It's not much on Yoga, more on what a fatwa is all about. If you find it wrong or misleading or whatever, feel free to give a comment or two. :)

1. Members of the Majlis Fatwa are selected from scholars of various disciplines of Islamic knowledge such as Hadith, Qur'an, Fiqh, Usuluddin etc.

2. Fatwas are not issued for fun.

3. A Fatwa is needed for issues where its halal or haram is not direclty mentioned in the Qur'an.

4. A Fatwa is the interpretation based on the knowledge and understanding of an issue in a particular time, and place. So a Fatwa can change as an issue is better understood by way of research, or sudden inspiration. Since our life evolves around new things, we will certainly need Fatwas from time to time.

5. A Fatwa is a way out for those who do not wish to push the limit of 'harus' to the maximum. He or she prefers to remain safe from 'syubhah' or associating themselves with something that is close to being haram.

e.g: Majlis Fatwa has issued a decision on cigarette. It's haram based on medical reasons of the day and statistics i.e people who smoke are more prone to getting cancer compared with those who don't. So if you smoke it's like you're subjecting your body to getting cancer, which is close to suicide, which is haram.

If you wish to smoke, it's all right because Qur'an doesn't mention anything about smoking. As far as Qur'an is concerned you can smoke the whole cigarettes in the ciggy factory if you want. And you can still argue with God that since it's not mentioned in the Qur'an you figure it's all right to smoke.

But for those who wish be closer to Allah - they may chose not to smoke based on this Fatwa.

(Not a big deal - the choice is yours)

Members of Majlis Fatwa is made up of liberal-minded individuals with exceptional intelligence that Allah has given them. They have more open discussions than what you have accused them of here. They've had discussions with M. Nasir on lyrics, music and such. They've had discussion with gays and homosexuals. They don't have to tell you about this.

A Fatwa (yet to be issued) on Yoga is in the process of being discussed. You can bet your left ear that by the time they're done with it, they will have understood Yoga better than the most senior Yogi the bear.

The Majlis Fatwa, like the rest of Majlis Fatwa in other Islamic countries, have issued thousands of Fatwas for matters you may consider trivial, but a big deal to those who want to be close to Allah and do not wish to commit 'syubhah'.

That's what Islam is about. It's about obtaining the 'redha' from Allah because you know everything you do here, will be questioned in the hereafter.

Of course, a great many Muslims do not really think that the hereafter is a big deal and so it doesn't really matter to them whether or not Allah 'redha' for all their actions here.

One of the signs that you don't care all that much about Allah is when you feel uncomfortable with the sound of people reading the Qur'an. Or people talking about Qur'an. Instead you make it your mission to point all the 'flaws' in the Qur'an so that you have this thing in your heart whispering; if Qur'an is perfect, then how come Allah has imposed so much rules on women like tudung.

And you have this doubt in your heart that Qur'an is not the ultimate truth, which is why you don't read it every day. Besides you don't speak Arabic. Since you're the type who understand what you read, you figure there's no point in reading the Qur'an. But you forget, people have read Qur'an for more than a thousand years and a great many of them don't understand a word what it means but yet, they find it beautiful.

This blows your mind away. Which is why you figure; I'm a Muslim but I'm a thinking Muslim. Which why you figure you don't need HIDAYAH.

It's just a Fatwa. Not a big deal. You may choose to follow. You may choose not to follow. You may choose to make Yoga your way of life because it is just a form of exercise. Or you may choose to sing songs in a church because you figure, it's just a song.

Each will answer before Allah our action. There's no force in Islam?