Jason Tedjasukmana, Jakarta – Four days after the fatwa went out, students continued to fill the yoga mats in the classrooms of Jakarta's Jakartadogyoga Studio. On Jan. 28, the influential Indonesian Ulemas Council issued a religious edict forbidding all Indonesian Muslims from practicing yoga that incorporates pre-Hindu religious rituals such meditation and chanting. And while students at the yoga studio admitted they had heard about the proclamation, which only allows yoga for the purpose of exercise or sport, they say it won't deter them from attending classes in the popular Indian practice. "Issuing a fatwa is not the way to settle a controversy – if there really is one," says Sita Resmi, a yoga student and practicing Muslim. "If something endangers the public then I understand, but this doesn't so it doesn't make much sense to me."

The esoteric edict is one in a string of attempts by some religious groups and parties in Indonesia to influence morality in the country – efforts that not everyone in the Muslim-majority nation appreciates. The Council, which is not an official government body despite receiving funding from the Ministry of Religion, has come under attack lately by moderate religious groups for its series of controversial edicts that critics say embolden radical elements in the nation. Though some of the group's religious calls have been praised – it recently issued a fatwa against smoking for minors and pregnant women – others have been more divisive, such as decreeing that Muslims should avoid conventional banks in favor of syariah-based banking. Because the Council's rulings are non-binding, they are generally only observed by the nation's more conservative Muslims, but its advice is nonetheless often sought after by government officials. Last year, for instance, the Council played a key part in the controversial ban of the Ahmadiyah religious sect by the governor of South Sumatra.

The credibility of the Council was further called into question earlier in January, when Transparency International Indonesia accused the institution of being one of the most frequent bribe-takers in the country, particularly in the issuance of halal stickers for food and beverage products. The Council has the sole authority to issue halal certificates – a stamp that can make or break a product in this 85% Muslim market. And while some praised the group for taking on the tobacco lobby in its anti-smoking efforts, the clerics fell short of banning the habit outright – an unsurprising outcome in a country where cigarette companies employs tens of millions of people and are among the biggest sources of tax revenues for the government.

Still, the Council leaders are not alone in targeting yoga as a distracting influence to good Muslims. In neighboring Malaysia, a formal ban on yoga was issued last year and is still in place, a move that many Malaysians worried would heighten religious tension in the country. "I think the fatwa was issued now because of their ties to clerics in Malaysia," suggests Hamid Basyaibm of the Liberal Islam Network. Few doubt it will have much effect. "The Council is trying to reassert its authority among Muslims as the guardians of Islamic belief," says Azyumardi Azra, director of graduate studies at the State Islamic University in Jakarta. "The fatwa is counterproductive because Muslims who do yoga do not feel it alters their fundamental belief in Islam."

Indeed, women like Evita Dwiandiya, another student at Jakartadogyoga, say they will continue to attend their weekly yoga classes. "This is not a mass movement or anything," says Evita, who works in Jakarta's private sector. "We'll see if anybody remembers in three months." To be sure, with national elections coming up in April and the usual recriminations that follow, yoga is unlikely to register on the long list of problems facing Indonesia as it moves to choosing a new group of leaders for the next five years.