I refer to the Malaysiakini report Bouquets, brickbats for yoga fatwa .

After the National Fatwa Council issued the tomboy fatwa , a few non-Muslims, liberal Islam NGOs and individuals made some comments which many Muslims feel hurt upon hearing. I made a blog post on the matter and asked what if we Muslims made a similar comments on non-Muslim religious matters.

For that, I was called names including 'bastard' and 'idiot'. Well, that explains a lot. In their comments, their anger is with Umno but they attack like as if all Muslims/Malays are Umno people.

Which is very wrong - I'm no Umno guy. But we Muslims, too, feel insulted by all the comments made over this yoga fatwa issue.

The real reason why most made such comments criticising the National Fatwa Council is because they do not know what a fatwa is. One blogger did copy and paste the definition of fatwa on his blog but he failed to understand what he copied and pasted and continued to attack the fatwa . If he had understood of what he copied and pasted, he would not have attacked the fatwa on yoga.

Another blogger asked if there would now be a fatwa on thosai which I think is very idiotic.

Some Malaysiakini readers, too, wrote some similar comments on the fatwa which are due to their lack of knowledge on Islam and what is a fatwa all about

The point is, they did study the statement from the National Fatwa Council. Yoga exercises by itself is not haram . The council just mentions that it is not recommended. The one that is haram is when it involves rituals and mantra-chanting.

As the Islamic faith is based on akidah , then if the akidah is corrupt, then there goes the faith and the shahadah. This is the only reason and not that yoga belongs to any particular race or religion.

If the Malay martial art of ‘silat’ also has some mantra-chanting or jampi which is considered syirik, then it is also haram. Many types of silat were in this situation before such as ‘silat Pesaka Tujuh Negeri Perlis’, Silat Gayong Makrifat etc.

It's simple, everything is based on akidah . On Mak Yong, well, Kelantan has already banned it. Only the Umno people are championing it now...

In this case, if a thing is haram , we must say it is haram. We cannot say a haram thing is makroh or halal. .Maybe in some instance, Islam Hadhari did that; making some things which were haram as halal and vice versa.

Many did question why there haven’t fatwa on corruption and detentions without trial. If you understand what a fatwa is, then you will not ask such a question. A fatwa is issued on something that is not clear on its status such as the Amanah Saham Bumputra, yoga, tomboys, placing wreaths at the National Memorial etc.

It is issued only when questions arise and these fatwa is not legally binding. People are still smoking cigarettes even when there is already a fatwa saying that smoking is haram and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is still placing wreaths at the Tugu Negara.

In the case of corruption and detentions without trial, it is very clear in Islam that corruption is haram as the money and property gained is not according to the halal guidelines and the same too for detentions without trial as it is an act of cruelty ( zalim ). Things which are clear of their status do not need a fatwa .

Comments which attack fatwa only work to serve Umno and BN more as Umno and BN will incite the Muslims sentiment by linking these people to Pakatan Rakyat.