Damn, there goes yoga!

I am not a yoga person, although I hear that its a really good exercise. All the breathing in and out and stretching must be good. Apparently using the word Om is an integral part of this workout, which led to some Malaysian mullahs declaring Yoga to be un-Islamic, since it would subconsciously convert all yogis (those practicing yoga, I assume) into Hindus. Now that can have pretty dangerous consequences for Muslims, in Malaysia for example, this means being sent to an institution which tries to teach you things that convince you to stay a Muslim. In other more zealous parts of the Islamic world, this could mean a death sentence, that being the punishment for apostasy.

So be it!

Last year in May, Professor Ezzat Atiya of the Al-Azhar University Cairo found a novel solution to a problem faced by today's working women. As per some zealous Islamic societies, a woman cannot be alone with a man since the devil will make them fornicate. He looked at Hadees, and found the following

Sahih Muslim, Book 8, Number 3425 states:

'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hadhaifa, lived with him and his family in their house. She (i. e. the daughter of Suhail came to Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) and said: Salim has attained (purbety) as men attain, and he understands what they understand, and he enters our house freely, I, however, perceive that something (rankles) in the heart of Abu Hudhaifa, whereupon Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) said to her: Suckle him and you would become unlawful for him, and (the rankling) which Abu Hudhaifa feels in his heart will disappear. She returned and said: So I suckled him, and what (was there) in the heart of Abu Hudhaifa disappeared.

Based on the above, he declared that if a woman breast feeds all the males in her surroundings, they would become mehrams (in a non-sexual way) and thus solving the problem.

Give the guy some points for thinking out of the box! Unfortunately, he was fired from his position and this was not made into a law of some sort.

I am very fond of the argument put forward by some apologists that "these are different times and some things don't apply anymore," which is a very slippery slope. If certain things are not applicable anymore, who decides what those things are. Getting married to a nine year old, for example is obviously not allowed anymore. What about certain other practices that the followers zealously undertake? Fasting, praying five times, not shaving, etc. etc. Just because some of these totally outrageous things make us look like idiots, we claim that they are not for today's age. Why not re-look at all of them?

I forget, its about faith, which dictates that we do not question them. So be it, and let the faithful do whatever they want and not expect reason. I, for one, will give it all a miss.