PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA: Muslims who practise yoga will know within this week the National Fatwa Council's edict on the exercise.

Council chairman Datuk Dr Abdul Shukor Husin said he had written and handed over a draft of the edict to the council last week.

"I have been on several overseas trips but I understand that the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) is in the process of arranging for a meeting of the council and media conference on the matter.

"The council will return the draft for me to check for approval. Practitioners will know within this week the council's decision," he told reporters after attending the International Seminar on Comparative Law at the Marriott Hotel here yesterday.

Dr Abdul Shukor said the draft needed to be checked a few times because a "fatwa was equivalent to a court decision".

He declined to say whether the edict would ban the practice, adding that the fatwa would explain everything.