How Nouf Marwaai Brought Yoga to Saudi Arabia, Paving the Way Across Muslim Nations.

Jeddah :-Meet the Muslim woman credited with “single-handedly” helping yoga gain official approval in Saudi Arabia and spread across the Arab world: *Nouf Marwaai*, founder of the Arab Yoga Foundation.

From Patient to Pioneer.

A sickly child diagnosed with systemic lupus at 17, Nouf Marwaai was told by doctors there wasn’t much hope. Her father brought home a yoga book from his travels. She began practicing asanas and credits yoga and Ayurveda for 21 years of living without medication. 

Determined to share its benefits, she started teaching yoga in Jeddah in 2004, launching what was then the Saudi Arabia Yoga School. 

Legal Breakthrough: Yoga Recognized as Sport.

For decades, yoga was not officially permitted in Saudi Arabia, widely seen as a Hindu spiritual practice in a kingdom that bans non-Muslim worship. 

But in November 2017, due to Marwaai’s efforts and her Arab Yoga Foundation, Saudi Arabia’s General Sports Authority officially approved yoga as a sports activity. “Yoga has crossed the boundaries of fundamentalism… Here is a day, that finally practicing yoga is no more a deviant behaviour in Saudi,” she wrote. 

 Impact Across the Arab World.

Marwaai renamed her school the Arab Yoga Foundation in 2010 as the practice spread to other Arab countries. By 2019, the Foundation had taught yoga to over 10,000 people and trained 700+ yoga teachers across the Kingdom. 

She spearheaded Yoga Day celebrations in Saudi Arabia in June 2017 after government approval, and was awarded India’s Padma Shri in 2018 for her contribution. 

Battling Opposition to ‘Normalize’ Yoga.

Marwaai faced “harassment, hate messages” and threats from extremists who argued yoga is incompatible with Islam. Some Islamic bodies, like Malaysia’s National Fatwa Council in 2008, ruled yoga un-Islamic due to “Hindu spiritual elements”. 

But Marwaai maintained yoga could be practiced for physical health without religious rituals. “Five years ago, this would have been impossible,” she said in 2018 as she taught classes in Jeddah. 

 Ripple Effect in Other Muslim Nations.

Saudi Arabia’s move came as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pushed “open, moderate Islam”. Elsewhere, debates continue. In 2025, Indian cleric Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi said “Yoga should be done in madrasas and mosques too” but opposed Surya Namaskar as “haram”. Singapore’s MUIS clarified in 1984 that Muslims may practice yoga for health if it excludes non-Islamic rituals. 

While not the only factor, Nouf Marwaai is widely recognized as the woman whose advocacy led Saudi Arabia to legalize yoga, setting a precedent for acceptance in other Muslim-majority countries. Her journey turned a “deviant behaviour” into an approved sport.