Bharatiya Janata Party is observing ‘Surya Namaskar’ Day on January 12 on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Swamy Vivekananda. It was expected that its allies in Bihar would participate in the celebrations. However, Janta Dal (United)’s Bihar MLC Gulam Rasool Balyawi has created a controversy by refusing to participate in the event, as it is not allowed in Islam. He added that as Allah gave birth to the sun, Muslims can’t pray to the sun.
Gulam Rasool Balyawi said, “In Islam, we worship only Allah. The followers of Allah and Islam cannot worship any other object that Allah has created. We worship the one who gives birth and not who are born.” Furthermore, he said ‘Surya Namaskar’ means worshipping the Sun, which is prohibited in Islam. Referring to the Constitution of India, he said, “Every individual has the freedom to follow Gods and Goddess as per their faith. In Islam, we believe that God is only one, and we worship Allah.”
Congress leader Kamal Nath has also opposed the Surya Namaskar day on January 12, although for different reasons. He has demanded that the event should be cancelled due to the Covid-19 situation, which has started to worsen in the country. “We are not against Surya Namaskar but seeing the increasing cases of Corona infections, we want children to do Surya Namaskar but in the safety of their homes. There should not be collective Surya Namaskar functions held in crowded public places because it will break the Corona guidelines,” he said.
Earlier, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board(AIMPLB) had objected to the central government’s directive to organise ‘Surya Namaskar’ in schools between January 1 to 7 on the 75th anniversary of Independence Day. In a statement issued by AIMPLB, the board stated that Islam prohibits ‘Surya Namaskar’ as it is a form of Surya puja.
“Such a program should not be organised in schools at all, which causes problems for students of other religions. The government should envision programmes keeping national security in mind. Muslim students should boycott such programmes of Surya Namaskar organised in their schools. They should refrain from attending such program as Islam does not allow them to participate in such program,” the official statement by AIMPLB said.
