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Ulema council to rule on marrying minors, yoga
Yoga, smoking, marriage involving minors, and other issues will feature in the rulings issued by the council of ulema following its national meeting in West Sumatra
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Yoga, smoking, marriage involving minors, and other issues will feature in the rulings issued by the council of ulema following its national meeting in West Sumatra.
“There are several issues that we will be discussed, including whether to forbid people from abstaining from voting, vasectomy and tubectomy, marrying underage children, smoking in public areas and yoga,” deputy chair of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) Amidhan said Saturday in Padangpanjang.
He said the council was still discussing the issues, which have already raised controversy nationwide. Stakeholders in the country’s powerful tobacco industry, for instance, say thousands will lose their jobs if the council issues an edict denouncing smoking as haram, meaning forbidden according to Islamic tenets.
“Hundreds of participants from across the country are attending this meeting, so it will be difficult for us to hold one vote on those issues,” Amidhan said.
Various interpretations were expected, he went on, though participants would all refer to the Koran and hadiths, the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who officially opened the meeting Saturday, said any edict issued by the MUI should not provoke restiveness. A vehement outcry was raised recently after the MUI banned yoga, blindly following a move by the Malaysian ulema body.
“The MUI should not only determine what is allowed and what is forbidden to Muslims, but also find something positive for all,” Kalla told the 700 gathered ulema.
He added Indonesian Muslims were proud to be moderate Muslims and sought common ground for compromise. He noted Islam was brought to Southeast Asia by traders and not through war.
“Mosques were developed through donations and zakat [mandatory alms]; if there had been no traders to pay the zakat, no mosques would have been built,” Kalla said.
He urged the ulema to consider technological advances when making their decisions.
“People in Saudi Arabia used to be forbidden to take photographs, but not anymore. TV used to be considered haram, but now, how can you possibly preach if there is no TV?”
