Failing the test of public reason

The more the religious authorities are bent on regulating our lives in the name of Islam, the more defiant Muslims will become. Why should so many Muslims who have practised yoga and not felt their faith undermined be bound by an edict that addresses a problem that does not exist?

The National Fatwa Council edict that made practising yoga haram and the subsequent uproar are symptomatic of many things that is wrong with the way we understand Islam in this country and how we use it as a source of law and public policy.