JAKARTA: Indonesia's top clerical body, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), is telling Indonesian Muslims to stop practising yoga while it investigates the practice.

This follows a move by Malaysia's top Islamic body banning yoga.

MUI will get yoga experts to explain the practice over the next two weeks before any edict is issued, reported Tempointeraktif.com

The council will study whether yoga includes rituals, actions or teachings that run counter to Islamic teachings.

Last week, Malaysia's National Fatwa Council banned Muslims from practising yoga, saying the Indian physical exercise contains spiritual elements, including chanting and Hindu worship practices, that could corrupt Muslims. The matter is now before the religious authorities of the various Malaysian states.

Initially, MUI had said it would not be banning yoga as it did not know the extent to which the exercise was practised in Indonesia.

MUI deputy chairman Umar Shihab had said: "It's okay if it's for sport, but I do not know if it is proven that it can destroy our beliefs as Muslims or contains polytheistic ideas."

- The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network