Are Chinese Internal Arts Such as Qigong and Tai Chi Permissible?

Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas

Question: Assalam aleykum

Is the practice of Chinese internal arts, such as Qi Gong and Tai Chi, with the intention of promoting inner peace, healing, and energy permissible, or even further, advised and recommended?

Answer: assalamu alaykum

Yes, it is permissible and even recommended if performed with the intention of maintaining one’s health in order to worship God, fulfill the sunna of giving one’s body its rights, serve one’s family in the long term, and so forth.

Our teacher, Shaykh Nuh Keller, has recommended Qi Gong in his Higher Health classes. Some of the books he has recommended relating to internal exercises include:

– The Art of Chi Kung by Wong Kiew Kit
– The Complete System of Self-Healing: Internal Exercises by Dr. Stephen T. Chang
– The Healing Art of Qi Gong by Master Hong Liu with Paul Perry (especially pp.121-148 “The Golden Eight Exercises”)

[Ustadh] Salman Younas

Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadh Salman Younas graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman. There he studies Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir.