KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - Muslims in Malaysia may be barred from practising yoga if they engage in Hindu 'religious elements' during the exercise, a top Islamic cleric said yesterday.

Mr Harussani Zakaria, a controversial cleric from northern Perak, said the government-backed National Fatwa Council would soon release a decree, or fatwa, on whether Muslims would be allowed to practise yoga.

'If it involves any faith or religious elements, it is definitely not permissible. But if it is just a form of exercise, that is all right.'

'Muslims cannot practise yoga in its original form because it involves another religion,' he said in response to a call to ban Muslims from practising yoga.

Professor Zakaria Stapa, from the Islamic faculty of the National University of Malaysia, had said yoga could cause Muslims to 'deviate from their faith', news reports said yesterday.

Muslims in Malaysia practise it as part of the growing urban lifestyle and it involved 'chanting mantras while in various positions', he said.