In order to battle the opposition from sections of Indian Muslims who have called the International Day of Yoga a "Hindutva agenda", the ministry of AYUSH has launched a book titled "Yoga and Islam".The ministry said yogic postures find many similarities with the Islamic 'namaaz', the prayer postures."We faced objection from the Muslim communities over yoga. The motive behind this book is to prove that yogic postures are not different from namaaz," said AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik here on Wednesday.In view of the first International day of Yoga on June 21, the book was launched to showcase that yoga was not associated with any particular religion and is universally accepted, Naik added.
It was published by Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) -- a Muslim organisation affiliated to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-- and was launched in Hindi.The ministry last week received objections from Muslim leaders over 'Surya Namaskar' (yogic postures called prayer to the sun) which was later removed from the day's agenda."The book does not include Surya Namaskar as Muslims are not allowed to pray to anyone but Allah, while Surya Namaskar requires praying to the sun," said Maulana Kokab Mujtaba, an official at the MRM.The MRM announced that the book would also be available across the country.