Short answer
Yoga as stretching and breathing exercise is permitted. What is not allowed are its religious parts: chanting 'Om' or mantras, sun salutations performed as worship of the sun, meditating on Hindu deities, and spiritual beliefs about chakras. Many Hanafi scholars advise choosing plain stretching or Pilates classes to stay clear of these.
Physical postures and breathing exercises done for health are mubah. Chanting mantras, bowing to the sun or idols, and adopting yoga's religious beliefs are haram, and some of these are shirk.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Yoga began as a spiritual practice in Hinduism, aimed at union with what Hindu belief calls the divine. Many modern classes have dropped that and teach stretching, balance and breathing for health. So the answer depends on what the class actually does.
What is permitted:
- stretches and poses for flexibility, strength and back pain;
- breathing exercises for relaxation;
- physiotherapy routines that borrow yoga poses.
What is not:
- Chanting 'Om' and mantras: these are words of Hindu worship.
- Surya namaskar (sun salutation) as worship: Allah says do not prostrate to the sun or the moon, but prostrate to Allah who created them. A sequence called 'salutation to the sun', ending in prostration, is avoided by many scholars even as exercise because of its origin.
- Statues and images of deities in the studio, or bowing to a teacher.
- Spiritual claims: opening chakras, awakening energy, emptying the mind to reach a higher self. These are beliefs, not exercise.
The Hanafi principle on imitation is that resembling others is blameworthy in what is bad in itself, or when imitation is intended. Bending and stretching are not bad. Religious rituals are. The Prophet ﷺ said whoever imitates a people is one of them, which scholars apply to their acts of worship and distinctive religious signs.
Practical advice: choose classes labelled stretching, mobility or Pilates; if you attend yoga, tell the teacher you will skip chanting and stay silent during it; and if a pose looks like prostration to something, change it. Islam's own practice for a calm heart is dhikr and salah. See Islamic meditation. The four schools agree on these principles.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Fussilat 41:37
وَمِنْ ءَايَٰتِهِ ٱلَّيْلُ وَٱلنَّهَارُ وَٱلشَّمْسُ وَٱلْقَمَرُ ۚ لَا تَسْجُدُوا۟ لِلشَّمْسِ وَلَا لِلْقَمَرِ وَٱسْجُدُوا۟ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَهُنَّ إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ ﴿٣٧﴾
And of His signs are the night and day and the sun and moon. Do not prostrate to the sun or to the moon, but prostate to Allah, who created them, if it should be Him that you worship.
Bowing or prostrating to the sun, as in some yoga sequences, is forbidden.
Sunan Abi Dawud 4031
Graded hasan sahih... من تشبه بقوم فهو منهم ...
"Whoever imitates a people is one of them."
Muslims do not take on the religious rituals of other faiths.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Salah, chapter on what invalidates the prayer and what is disliked in it. Resembling others is blameworthy only in what is bad in itself or when resemblance is intended.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.