hinduism vs islam essay

Hinduism vs. Islam

Hinduism and Islam are the third and second most popular religions in the world respectively. They differ in many respects - including idol worship, monotheism and their history.

Islam is a monotheistic Abrahamic religion, founded by Prophet Muhammad in the Middle East in the 7th century CE. Hinduism on the other hand is religious tradition that originated in the Indian subcontinent in the pre-classical era (1500–500 BCE) and does not have a specific founder.

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For further reading, there are several books available on Amazon.com on Hinduism and Islam:

• Hinduism - Books, dieties and more
• Islam - Quran, books and more
• wikipedia:Islam
• wikipedia:Hinduism

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September 25, 2013, 5:18pm HINDUSAM BY SUPRIME ACHARYA OF HINDUSAM KRIPALU MAHAPRABHU. From all the scriptures we need to understand the answers to three questions to get the Essence of philosophy of Divine Love: What is our relationship with God? What is the means for establishing that relationship? What final goal will we attain once that relationship has been established? These questions are addressed by Shree Maharajji’s philosophy which has been summarized as below as : Philosophy of Divine Love Every living being is incessantly searching for happiness. This search is natural to our being, since we are an eternal part of God, who is the ocean of Divine Bliss. The search for happiness is the search for God, except that is unknown to our mind and intellect. Hence, God-realization is the goal of our lives. We cannot know God by our senses, mind, and intellect. These instruments of knowledge of ours are material, and cannot fathom the Divine nature of the Supreme Being. The only means of knowing God is through his Grace, whereby He Himself bestows His Divine knowledge upon the soul If we wish to receive that Divine Grace, we must surrender ourselves to Him. This surrender is not an external act; it should be from within. True surrender is that of the mind. The difficulty in surrendering our mind to God is that at present, it is attached to the world; we must first detach it from here, only then can we attach it to God. At this stage, we need a Guru, or a Spiritual Master who can explain to us on the basis of the scriptures how to detach the mind from the world and attach it to God. The qualification of a genuine spiritual Master is that he must be God-realized himself. Although the Vedas mention the three means of karm, gyana, and bhakti, our goal of God-realization can be accomplished through bhakti alone. Karm needs the addition of bhakti to make it karmyog; gyan needs the addition of bhakti to make it bhakti to it to make it gyanyog; while bhakti is by itself bhaktiyog. This bhakti or devotion must be performed selflessly, without the desire for any material rewards. Even the desire for liberation is an inferior desire, since liberation is an automatic by-product of attaining devotion. Shree KrishnaIn this devotion, we can establish five kinds of relationships with the Supreme Being. We can look upon Him as our King, our Master, our Friend, our Child, or our Beloved. Amongst these, worshipping God as our Beloved, in the mood of the gopies of Vrindaban, is the highest. Longing for our Divine Beloved develops by the practice of Roop-dhyan, or meditation on the personal form of God. Along with this, we must learn to remember Him throughout the day, by feeling His Divine presence with us at all times. When our heart is perfectly cleansed by the practice of devotion, we will receive another kind of devotion by the Grace of our Spiritual Master, called perfect devotion or Divine Love. This Divine Love is an eternal power of God; it is such a power that God Himself becomes captivated by the devotee who possesses it. With that Divine Love, we will engage in the eternal loving service of the Supreme Lord, and upon leaving this body, we will enter His eternal Divine leelas & finally achieve unlimited happiness & Divine Love. — 101.✗.✗.1

August 10, 2013, 9:16am “Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya Glanirva Bhavathi Bharatha, Abhyuthanam Adharmaysya Tadatmanam Srijami Aham’. Bhagavad Gita (Chapter IV-7) “Whenever there is decay of righteousness O! Bharatha and a rise of unrighteousness then I manifest Myself!” or whenever and wherever there is decline of dharma (righteousness) and ascendance of adharma (unrighteousness), at that time I manifest Myself in visible form. For the protection of the righteous and destruction of the wicked, and for the sake of establishing dharma again, I incarnate Myself on earth ages after ages. — 203.✗.✗.116

September 14, 2013, 9:53am Only Hindu — 115.✗.✗.90

June 17, 2014, 4:54pm For hindu brother who have commented on September 26, 2013, 5:37. You r chalanging to DR ZAKIR NAIK at back,y dont u went to ask him these question? I dont dont know much more about ur religion but ur best scripture is SHRUTI. In ur veda there mention of only 1 god,whom there no image. Remember DAYA SHANKAR who says "GO BACK TO VEDAS" — 23.✗.✗.53

June 5, 2014, 9:47am Islam means surrender to the will of Allah. But we Muslims don't obey Allah he says don't fight but we do he say be polite and gentle with every Muslim and non Muslim. We should follow Mohammed who never raise his sword to attack but for defence.He prayed even for his enemies peace and love also obedience to God.islam just means rights of human and rights of Allah. — 119.✗.✗.99

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Similarities and Differences Between Islam and Hinduism

The two religions; Hinduism and Islam are considered poles apart from each other for many reasons, though one fails to consider their similarities as well. Being humans, no matter what religion or sect one belongs to, they think that their knowledge of the religion is best. For instance, all human beings alike whether they are Hindus or Christians or Muslims seek guidance from their religion’s holy scriptures; that is for the Muslims it is The Holy Quran while the Vedas, Upanishads, Itihaas, Bhagavad Gita, and the Puranas are for Hindus. Are these two religions are different in concepts?

The most basic form of similarity between the two religions is the concept of; ‘see no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil’ that is the followers should always speak the truth, shouldn’t lie or steal, and should be kind to those around them and not cruel (King & Char, 1997). Many people are with the view that Islam was founded and bought about by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) 1400 years ago. This is a misconception amongst humankind as this religion has been there since the time of Moses and has preached the same thing on and on – oneness and uniqueness of Allah and the complete submission of mankind. On the other hand, the word ‘Hindu’ means people who lived near River Indus. According to them, Hinduism encompasses the beliefs of everyone in India minus the Muslims and Christians. In Hinduism, those Hindus who are well versed in their religion are with believe in worshiping only one God, however, some others worship three gods or ten or even 330 million.

On the other hand, the major difference between these two religions of Hinduism and Islam is that while the Muslims say that everything in this universe belongs to God, the Hindus say that everything on this universe is God i.e. the sun is god, the cow is God, the moon is God, humans are God, etc. “According to Dr. Naik, if somehow we manage to solve this problem between belonging to God and being God then these two religions would stand united” (King & Char, 1997). Another conflict between the concepts of these two religions is that according to Hinduism, God comes down in one way or another to protect his religions while Islam says that God never comes down in human or any form whatsoever as no form is strong enough to contain him nor does God need food to survive nor he sleeps. One can conclude that even though Hinduism and Islam are more similar than different; this is one argument that will go on indefinitely.

King, N., & Char, S. (1997). Hinduism and Islam in India: Caste, Religion, and Society from Antiquity to Early Modern Times . London: Markus Wiener Publishing Inc

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Friday essay: what do the 5 great religions say about the existence of the soul?

Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought, The University of Queensland

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A recent survey found almost 70% of Australians believed in or were open to the existence of the soul — meaning they believe we are more than the stuff out of which our bodies are made.

The soul can be defined as the spiritual or non-material part of us that survives death.

Western pop culture is currently bewitched by what happens to us after death with TV shows such as The Good Place and Miracle Workers set largely in the afterlife. And the Disney film Soul depicts the soul of a jazz pianist separating from his earthly body to journey into the afterlife.

Read more: Disney Pixar's Soul: how the moviemakers took Plato's view of existence and added a modern twist

The five great world religions — Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism — all believe in some version of a “self”, variously named, which mostly survives death. But they imagine its origin, journey, and destination in some quite different and distinctive ways.

The origin of the soul – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

These three religions all believe there was a time when souls were not. That is to say, before God created the world, there was nothing at all.

Within Christianity, how the soul was united with its body was a matter of uncertainty. But all were agreed that the soul was present within the foetus, if not at the moment of conception, then within the first 90 days. When it comes to contemporary Christian debate about abortion, this moment is a crucial one. Most Christians today believe the soul enters the body at the time of conception.

Christianity adopted the Greek philosopher Plato’s view that we consist of a mortal body and an immortal soul . Death is thus the separation of the soul from the body.

According to Judaism, the soul was created by God and joined to an earthly body. But it did not develop a definitive theory on the timing or nature of this event (not least because the separation between body and soul was not an absolutely clear one). Modern Judaism remains uncertain on when, between birth and conception, a human being is fully present.

Similarly, in Islam, the soul was breathed into the foetus by God. As in Christianity, opinions vary on when this occurred, but the mainstream opinion has it that the soul enters the foetus around 120 days after conception.

For all three religions, souls will live forever.

The origin of the soul – Hinduism and Buddhism

Within Hinduism, there has been never been a time when souls did not exist. All of us have existed into the infinite past. Thus, we are all bound to Samsara – the infinite cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

Our souls are continually reincarnated in different physical forms according to the law of karma — a cosmic law of moral debit and credit. Each moral deed, virtuous or otherwise, leaves its mark on the individual. At the time of death, the sum total of karma determines our status in the next life.

Like Hinduism, Buddhism accepts there was no time when we were not bound to the cycle of birth and rebirth. But unlike Hinduism, it does not believe there is an eternal, unchanging “soul” that transmigrates from one life to the next. There is nothing permanent in us, any more than there is any permanence in the world generally.

Nevertheless, Buddhists believe our consciousness is like a flame on the candle of our body. At the moment of death, we leave the body but this flame, particularly our flame of moral credit or debit, goes into a new body. In Buddhism, this “karmic flame of consciousness” plays the same role as the “soul” in other religions.

The destiny of the soul – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Within Christianity, it is believed the soul continues its existence immediately after death. Most believe it will do so consciously (rather than in a sleep-like state). At the point of death, God will determine the soul’s ultimate fate — eternal punishment or eternal happiness .

Still, by the end of the first millennium, there was a recognition that most of us had not been sufficiently good to merit immediate happiness, nor sufficiently evil to merit eternal misery. Catholicism thus developed an intermediate state — purgatory — offering the slightly or moderately wicked a chance to be purified of their sins. All souls will be reunited with their resurrected bodies on Judgement Day when Christ returns and God finally confirms their destiny.

Judaism remains uncertain about the consciousness of the dead in the afterlife, although the dominant view holds that, after death, the soul will be in a conscious state.

Orthodox Judaism is committed to the idea of the resurrection of the body on Judgement Day and its reunion with the soul, together with heavenly bliss for the saved. Liberal forms of modern Judaism, like modern liberal Christianity, sit lightly on the idea of the resurrection of the body and emphasise spiritual life immediately after death.

Within Islam, souls await the day of resurrection in their graves. It is a limbo-like state: those destined for hell will suffer in their graves; those destined for heaven will wait peacefully.

There are two exceptions to this: those who die fighting in the cause of Islam go immediately into God’s presence; those who die as enemies of Islam go straight to hell.

On the final Day of Judgement, Muslims believe the wicked will suffer torments in hell. The righteous will enjoy the pleasures of Paradise.

The destiny of the soul – Hinduism

In the modern West, reincarnation has a positive flavour as a desirable alternative to the traditional Western afterlife. But the Indian traditions all agree it is the ultimate horror — their aim is to escape from it.

They do, however, differ radically in their views of the destiny of the soul beyond the eternal cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Within Hinduism, we can distinguish four different schools of thought on this.

In the first of these, known as Samkhya-Yoga , the aim is to realise the essential separateness of the soul from its material body, thus enabling us to live in the here and now without attachment to the things of the world. At death, the liberated soul will exist eternally beyond any further entanglements with the world. Modern Western postural yoga derives from this, although it is intended, not so much to remove us from the world, as to enable us the better to function within it.

The second view, known as the Dvaita Vedanta school, is completely focused on the soul’s loving devotion to God, which will help liberate souls beyond death. As George Harrison sang , by chanting the names of the Lord (Krishna and Rama) “you’ll be free”. This is the dominant philosophy underlying the Hare Krishna movement and of all the Indian traditions, most closely resembles Christianity.

The third view is that of the Vishishtadvaita Vedanta school. Here, liberation occurs when the soul enters into the oneness of God, rather as a drop of water merges into the ocean, while paradoxically maintaining its individual identity.

The final view of the destiny of the soul within Hinduism is that of the Advaita Vedanta school. Liberation is attained when the soul realises its essential identity with Brahman — the impersonal Godhead beyond the gods.

The destiny of the karmic flame – Buddhism

Although there are divinities galore in Buddhism, the gods are not essential for liberation. So, it is possible to be a Buddhist atheist. Liberation from endless rebirth comes from our realisation that all is suffering and nothing is permanent, including the self.

In Theravada Buddhism (present in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos), the realised person enters Pari-Nirvana at death. The flame of consciousness is “extinguished”. The “soul” is no more.

In Mahayana Buddhism (in Japan, Vietnam and China, including Tibet)), liberation is attained when the world is seen as it really is, with the veil of ignorance removed — as having no ultimate reality. This means that, although at one level the many gods, goddesses, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas can assist us on the path to liberation, they too, like us, have never really existed.

At the everyday level, we can distinguish between truth and falsity. But from the perspective of what is ultimately real, there is only Emptiness or Pure Consciousness. Liberation consists of coming to know that the idea of the individual soul was always an illusory one. In short, the individual soul never really was. It was part of the grand illusion that is the realm of Samsara.

The practice of Buddhist “mindfulness”, now becoming popular in the West in a secular form, is the continual attentiveness to the impermanence or unreality of the self and the world, and the suffering caused by thinking and acting otherwise.

The meaning of the soul

Within the Christian tradition, the idea that each individual was both mortal body and immortal soul distinguished humans from other creatures.

It made humanity qualitatively unique; ensuring the life of each individual soul had an ultimate meaning within the grand, divine scheme. However, even without a belief in the transcendent, atheistic humanists and existentialists still affirm the distinct value of each human person.

The question of souls is still one that matters. It is, in effect, wrestling with the meaning of human life — and whether each of us has more ultimate significance than a rock or an earthworm.

This is why the belief in souls persists, even in this apparently secular age.

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Hinduism and Islam

Hinduism and islam.

The relationship between these two great religious traditions in South Asia is often characterized as one of civilizational or cultural clashes, confrontations, and discontinuities. Popular accounts of South Asia 's religious history often juxtapose Hinduism's tolerance of diversity, innate spirituality, and rootedness in the Indian soil with Islam's doctrinal rigidity, innate militancy, and foreignness. Such essentializations, which gained ascendancy during the era of British imperialism, fail to recognize that, as complex social and cultural phenomena, religions undergo historical change. A critical assessment of the relationships between Hinduism and Islam accounts for multiple histories involving subtle encounters, exchanges, and conversions, as well as overt confrontation and conflict. A more accurate and multifaceted range of perspectives emerges, reflecting the ways in which Hinduism and Islam interact with each other, and with other social, cultural, and political formations in South Asia through time.

A Demographic Overview

Today there are an estimated 1.2 billion Muslims, one-third of whom live in South Asia—mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka . Indeed, there are as many Muslims in South Asia as there are in the Middle East and North Africa combined. The majority of South Asian Muslims come from indigenous ethnic populations. Muslims constitute clear majorities in Pakistan (96%) and Bangladesh (87%), while in India and Sri Lanka they are sizable minorities (12% and 7.6%, respectively). Prior to the 1947 partition an estimated 24 percent of greater India's population was Muslim, the remainder being predominantly Hindu. Today, there are more than 800 million Hindus in South Asia.

The extent of Islam's indigenization in the region is reflected in the languages spoken by its adherents: Numerous Arabic and Persian loanwords are found in local languages, especially those of the Indus and Ganges basins. Furthermore, the primary language of most Muslims is the same as that spoken by local non-Muslim populations, such as Punjabi or Bengali in the North and Malayalam or Tamil in the South .

Just as Hindu religious ideas and practices are constituted in a variety of traditions and movements, ranging from the brahmanic to the devotional, mystical, intellectual, and reformist, so too Indian Islam finds expression in diverse ways. Sunni Islam, primarily of the Hanafi legal tradition, has been the official religion for most urban Muslims and landholders. Less than one-fifth of South Asian Muslims adhere to one of two main divisions of Shi˓ism, the Ithna˓shariyya (Twelvers) or the Isma˓iliyya (Isma˓ilis). Most South Asian Muslims have been formally and informally affiliated with Sufi shrines and tariqa s (brotherhoods). Indeed, it is widely held that Islam was established in South Asia through Sufism, though there is little evidence of an organized, deliberate Sufi strategy of conversion. Nonetheless, Sufism has participated in the creation of local expressions of Islam, which embody the greatest degree of assimilation of Hindu religious ideas and practices. Since the sixteenth century, several Islamic reform and revival movements have emerged, directed in part against unorthodox practices among Sufis and the Shi˓a, and also against Hindu influence on Muslim belief and practice. Thus, assimilation and differentiation are the two alternating processes governing relations between Hindus and Muslims through more than one thousand years of shared history.

Medieval Hindu-Muslim Encounters

The first contacts between Hindus and Muslims occurred through trade and conquest. Arab Muslim colonies involved in the Indian Ocean spice trade appeared on the Malabar Coast of southern India as early as the ninth century, continuing a long history of commerce and migration between India and the Near East. Local Hindu rulers granted Muslims permission to build mosques and intermarry with their subjects. Though these early immigrants were merchants, Muslim legends remember them as holy men and pilgrims, and even claim that at least one Hindu prince converted to Islam and went to Mecca on the hajj. Muslim trading colonies also flourished in Sri Lanka and on the Coromandel Coast in what is now Tamil Nadu . By the time the Portuguese arrived in 1498, Islam was firmly implanted in the region, and intertwined with its Hindu cultures.

Islamization in northern India followed a different course. Arab Muslim expeditions reached the banks of the Indus by 711, but systematic raids into the heartland did not commence until the tenth century. Armies under the command of the Turkish rulers based in Afghanistan, most notably Mahmoud of Ghazni (r. 998–1030 c.e.), repeatedly plundered towns in the Punjab and Sind. Muslim rule in the Indian heartland was established when Turkish, Persian, and Afghan warriors crossed the northwest frontier, defeated Indian Rajput forces in 1192, and established their capital at Delhi in the Indo-Gangetic plain. The Delhi Sultanate (1211–1526), bolstered by Muslim immigrants fleeing Mongol armies in the west, extended Muslim control across northern India to Bengal and southward into the Deccan, rendering the region a dar al-islam. However, the Delhi Sultans often yielded to local Muslim and Hindu rivals when they were unable to absorb them into the imperial order, as did the Mughal dynasty that succeeded it (1526–1857).

In retrospect, Muslim historians recalled the conquests as heroic wars against pagan infidels ( kafirs ), and they lauded conversions along with the destruction of Hindu temples. These accounts obscure the fact that where Muslim attacks were made on Hindu temples, they were aimed at enriching Muslim elites (temples were repositories of gold, jewelry, and cash), and undermining the power of local rulers, the traditional temple patrons. Mosques and shrines were erected in their stead. However, most rulers treated subjugated Hindus as "protected" peoples ( dhimmis ), leaving temples untouched, authorizing and often patronizing new shrines. Nonetheless, there were occasions when they followed the advice of men like Diya˒ al-Din Barani (1285–1357), a court historian, who, in counseling rulers to maintain the purity of the "true religion," urged them to "use their efforts to insult and humiliate and to cause grief to and bring ridicule and shame upon the polytheistic and idolatrous Hindus" (Mujeeb, p. 68). Brahmanic Hindus, for their part, regarded Muslim invaders as impure mlecchas (aliens), or as Turks, Tajiks, and even Greeks, which suggests that they defined Muslims more by their foreign ethnicity than by their religious identity.

Muslim elites sought to comprehend the religions of their subjects intellectually. Al-Biruni (973–c. 1050) gives the earliest and most detailed Muslim account of Indian religion, writing in detail about brahmanic concepts of divinity, cosmology, reincarnation, ritual practices, and yoga. He approached these topics comparatively, drawing parallels with Sufism and Greek philosophy. The Mogul emperor Akbar (r. 1556–1605), famous for his interest in comparative religions, sponsored Persian translations of Hindu epics, the Bhagavad Gita, and books on Vedanta philosophy. His great-grandson, Dara Shukoh (1615–1659), befriended Hindu holy men, translated the Upanishads and, inspired by Ibn ˓Arabi's pantheistic ideas, attempted a synthesis of Sufism with Hindu Vedanta. He was executed for heresy by his brother and rival to the throne, Aurangzeb (r. 1658–1707). As a zealous promoter of Sunni revivalism, Aurangzeb reimposed taxes on Hindu subjects and razed temples in major Hindu religious centers. As Akbar and Dara Shukoh became emblematic of Hindu-Muslim conviviality, Mahmoud of Ghazni and Aurangzeb are today remembered as symbols of Muslim militancy and intolerance.

Conversions and Convergences

Most South Asian Muslims are descended from indigenous peoples who converted to Islam. As a rule, conversion was not an all-or-nothing break with Hindu belief and practice, nor did it usually occur at the end of a sword. Rather, it was a process that occurred in different degrees, and it involved a variety of social, cultural, political, and economic factors. Indeed, one of the most striking aspects of the history of Islam in South Asia is that it gained the most converts in areas situated beyond the traditional centers of political power and brahmanical religious authority. Today, the largest proportions of Muslims are to be found in the northwest (now Pakistan and Kashmir) and northeast (now Bangladesh); even Kerala (1991: 23.3%) in the south has a higher percentage of Muslims than does Uttar Pradesh (1991: 17.3%), where Delhi and Agra are located.

The chief agents for Islamization on the local level were wandering Muslim saints, teachers, and warriors. Isma˓ili missionaries in Sind and Rajasthan adopted Nath yogi guise and formulated their Islamic message in terms of Hindu concepts of divinity and cosmology. In Bengal, communities grew up around saint shrines and mosques built where lands had been newly converted to wet-rice agriculture during the Mughal era. Through local Sufi centers Islam was often introduced and integrated into the socioreligious landscape, establishing points of exchange between the Muslim rulers and the populace, thus integrating people and property into the infrastructure of the kingdom. Across India shrines are patronized and even managed commonly by Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Christians, and some have evolved into major pilgrimage centers, such as that of Mu˓in al-Din Chishti in Ajmer. Such places are identified with supermundane beings who offer their devotees power, healing, fertility, and occasions to participate in ecstatic rites. Muslim warrior saints have been incorporated as guardian deities into the cults of Hindu hero gods and goddesses, where Muslims as well as Hindus worship them. This is exemplified by Vavar, the battle companion of the popular south Indian deity Ayyappa, and by Muttal Ravutan, guardian of Draupadi shrines in Tamil Nadu .

The interpenetration of Hinduism and Islam is further evident in folk epics and religious poetry. Thus, regional oral epics contain elements from the classical Hindu epics of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana that have been reshaped as a result of interaction with Muslims. At assemblies of poets throughout India, Hindus, Muslims, and others recite the compositions of poet saints such as Kabir (died c. 1448), known as the "apostle of Hindu-Muslim unity." The compositions of vernacular poets like Baba Farid Shakarganj, Sultan Bahu, and Bulleh Shah are on the lips of every Punjabi, regardless of creed. The Sikh religion founded by the North Indian holy man Guru Nanak (d. 1539) is often characterized as a fusion of Islamic monotheism and Hindu devotionalism. Across north India and Pakistan, people sing romantic ballads, or qissa, such as Hir-Ranjha, Sassi-Punnu, Mirza-Sahiban, and Layla-Majnun. These are inevitably tragic tales of romantic heroes and heroines destined to remain apart and doomed to die because of differences in caste, class, and religion. Nonetheless, the songs in which these boundaries are crossed are sung and beloved by people from all walks of life. Through richly symbolic language and imagery qissa are also mystical allegories of the human soul seeking union with God.

Hindustani music is another excellent example of the interplay between Hindu and Muslim culture. One of the greatest innovators of Hindustani classical music is often identified as Tansen (d. 1589), the Great Mogul Emperor Akbar's court musician. The musical modes and the code of conduct within the musical lineages, or gharanas, draw on Indian and Perso-Arabic styles. The initiation ceremony of the student into the master's school closely mirrors that of the Hindu guru-sishya initiation. Furthermore, although many of these lineages are principally Muslim in terms of personnel, worship of Hindu deities, especially the goddess Saraswati, and the lighting of lamps and garlanding of musicians are all common practices associated with Hinduism. The popularity of explicitly Islamic devotional styles such as kafi, ghazal, and qawwal, and of Muslim singers such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Abida Parveen among all audiences indicates a shared aesthetic culture.

Finally, in many areas conversion, intermarriage, and shared community life have led to common cultural practices. Often customs and observations of lifecycle events, such as births, marriages, and death, are regionally extremely similar. The offering of a child's first haircutting or pilgrimage to bless a marriage is performed by all religious communities at local shrines. Dress and eating habits are frequently shared. Muslim social status usually reflects caste distinctions found among the wider society; and in Malabar, Muslim traders intermarried with Hindu locals to such an extent that they adopted their matrilineal social organization.

Hindu-Muslim Encounters after 1857

The Mogul Empire's territory reached its apogee under Aurangzeb, encompassing the Deccan plateau and parts of the South Indian coast. After his death in 1707, Mogul power rapidly unraveled, paving the way for the British East India Company to transform its commercial power bases into political centers. In 1757 at the Battle of Plassy, the British forces took effective control of much of North India, placing it under the Raj . Though nominal authority still lay in Mogul hands, this ended following the British defeat of a large-scale rebellion of Hindu and Muslim troops in 1857. After this power shift, religious movements arose to address the new sociopolitical milieu, which rewarded modernism, secularism, and progressive scientific thought over traditional values.

Reaction to the impact of foreign rule was channeled in many cases through religious movements. Revivalist and reformist groups emerged representing the full range of responses to the new power structures. Some sought to incorporate and integrate Western values, others focused on internal revitalization, and still others mobilized to oppose British rule. Hindu revivalist groups such as the Brahmo Samaj , Arya Samaj , Hindu Mahasabha, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) advocated different means of promoting Hinduism in modern society. Whereas the Mahasabha, RSS, and Arya Samaj strove to purify Hinduism and reestablish an inherently Hindu national identity, the Brahmo Samaj emphasized social reform and education more in line with modern Western concepts. Similarly, Muslim organizations addressed the educational, social, and political interests of the Muslim population. The Dar al-˓Ulum Deoband was founded in 1867 to generate a new Indian body of ulema. In 1875, Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan established Aligarh Muslim University with a westernized secular curriculum, to educate Muslims capable of reviving Islam and addressing the exigencies of modernity. The Jama˓at-e Islami, founded by Abu l-A˓la˒ Maududi in 1928, advocated religious renewal and political independence. Grassroots movements, like Tablighi Jama˓at (founded 1926), arose to teach basic Islamic principles and practices and to eradicate "Hindu" accretions, such as pilgrimage to saints's tombs, music, elaborate weddings, and mourning and death rites. The Muslim League formed in 1906 as a political group working to protect minority Muslim interests in an independent India.

Throughout the independence struggle relations between Hindus and Muslims worsened. Many factors contributed to this: British divide-and-conquer policies, Muslim under-development, the Hinduization of the nationalist movement, and Hindu and Muslim prejudices and fears. Following the Indian National Congress 's (INC) formation (1892), Muslim participation decreased steadily. However, there were moments of cooperation, such as Gandhi's support for the Khilafat movement to reestablish the Ottoman caliphate. Gandhi viewed this as a kindred freedom struggle and a means of garnering Muslim support. Nevertheless, as the independence movement progressed, the Congress leadership consistently failed to address Muslim fears of a Hindu majority nation without safeguards for their sizable (24%) minority. The INC rejected power-sharing schemes proposed by the British in the Communal Award (1932) and during the final Cabinet Mission negotiations (1946). After the Muslim League in 1940 publicly called for the creation of a separate state for Muslims, many Hindus no longer trusted Muslim ambitions for a free and unified India. Hindus sought a strong center and Muslims wanted strong regional governments and electoral reservations. Unable to find a compromise, the rapid departure of the British in 1947 resulted in horrific violence—an estimated 500,000 to 1 million died as 8 million Hindus and Sikhs shifted to India and 7 million Muslims departed for East and West Pakistan.

Since Partition, India's non-Hindu population has steadily increased, whereas Pakistan's non-Muslim population has declined—currently below 5 percent. The secular mandate of India's constitution nominally protects equal rights, and several controversial government schemes—particularly reservation of seats for various minority groups in the civil service , elected bodies, and universities—ensure at least some Muslim presence in India's civic life. Nonetheless, divisive politics persist. Three issues in particular frustrate understanding between Hindus and Muslims: Muslim personal law, Ayodhya, and Kashmir.

Currently there is a separate personal law for Muslims regarding marriage, divorce, and inheritance. Hindu nationalists and many women's advocacy groups champion a uniform civil code, which would apply the same legal regulations to every Indian citizen. Many Muslims cling to their separate legal code as a small realm of autonomy and the only available institutional means of maintaining their cultural identity.

In the early twentieth century Hindu radicals identified the Babri Masjid, a sixteenth mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh , as the god Rama's birthplace and began agitation for its "liberation." In the absence of decisive action by the state and central governments and the Supreme Court, the situation remains unresolved. In 1992 Hindu radicals tore down the mosque and placed Rama's image at the site. The riots subsequent to this demolition claimed thousands of lives, and the tension is periodically reactivated with similarly tragic results. In 2002 a move by Hindu organizations to begin construction of a temple resulted in another round of disturbances, destabilizing interreligious relations.

Finally, at Partition, Muslim-majority Kashmir gained "special status," or semiautonomy, under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. India has promised a referendum on statehood or independence, but three wars with Pakistan, continual border skirmishes, Pakistani support to militants and freedom advocates, severe government repression of Muslim movements, and Hindu agitation over Article 370 keep tensions high. This situation is more alarming now that both nations are nuclear powers.

Real fissures do exist between Hindu and Muslim communities testifying to continued Hindu resentment of temple desecration by Muslims (real or alleged) and persistent Muslim fears (both reasonable and baseless) of assimilation or annihilation in Hindu-majority India. This mutual suspicion and hostility threaten constantly to overshadow the enormously rich and diverse shared traditions of the subcontinent. Yet the constitutional secularism of the largest democracy in the world, the persistence of shared places such as the shrine of Vavar in Kerala, and the continuing popularity of common cultural traditions such as music, literature, and art forms, indicate that there is a sound and strong common ground.

See also Akbar ; South Asia, Islam in ; South Asian Culture and Islam .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ahmad, Aziz. Studies in Islamic Culture in the Indian Environment. 1964. Reprint, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Bayly, Susan. Saints, Goddesses and Kings: Muslims and Christians in South Indian Society 1700–1900. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Eaton, Richard M. Essays on Islam and Indian History. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Gilmartin, David, and Lawrence, Bruce, eds. Beyond Turk and Hindu: Rethinking Religious Identities in Islamicate South Asia. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000.

Hiltebeitel, Alf. Rethinking India's Oral and Classical Epics: Draupadi among Rajputs, Muslims and Dalits. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.

Khan, Dominique-Sila. Conversions and Shifting Identities: Ramdev Pir and the Ismailis in Rajasthan. New Delhi : Manohar, 1997.

Metcalf, Barbara, ed. Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.

Mujeeb, Mohammad. The Indian Muslims. London: Allen & Unwin, 1967.

Robinson, Francis. Islam and Muslim History in South Asia. New Delhi : Oxford University Press, 2000.

Wink, Andre. Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1990.

Anna Bigelow Juan Eduardo Campo

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Hinduism and Islam

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Hinduism and Islam by Peter Gottschalk LAST REVIEWED: 29 August 2012 LAST MODIFIED: 29 August 2012 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195399318-0047

For some observers, two religions could not be more distinct than Hinduism and Islam. As Westerners have reported for centuries—and as some Hindus and Muslims themselves still explain—one tradition venerates images while the other eschews them, one reveres cows while the other sacrifices them, one embraces multiple deities while the other accepts only one. Such oversimplifications, of course, rely upon reified notions of “Hinduism” and “Islam,” presuming each to be a self-sufficient, mutually exclusive “religion” (a term some have argued does not apply to Hindu traditions) that declares to, demands of, and determines for its members as though an actor itself. More recent scholarship has attempted to focus instead on those who identify as Hindus and Muslims, many of whom draw on the same religious register in regard to local superhuman agents (e.g., ascetics, ghosts, demons), regional devotional sites (e.g., Sufi tombs), and general religious language (e.g., khuda , bhagwan , shakti , takat ). Although some Hindus and Muslims—especially those recognized by their communities as religious authorities—argue for a strict orthodoxy and/or orthopraxy, their conclusions cannot be taken as universal. In this regard, ethnographic research has been particularly enlightening, since it has demonstrated both the impossibility of rigidly defining each tradition and the imprudence of presuming either tradition to be essentially uniform. Moreover, the religiously bifurcated view of South Asia promoted by Britons throughout their two centuries of direct and indirect rule needs to be placed within a politico-historical context, taking into account the influence of both British secular and Christian commitments. This includes the overall reliance of Britons and other Westerners on Hindu and Islamic authorities to establish essential, definitive qualities for each tradition and an associated literary canon, despite ample evidence accumulated by officials and civilians of religious intermixing and overlap. Such complexities challenged clear lines of identity and demarcation. Naturally, the catastrophic communalist violence that culminated in the partition of the subcontinent as Pakistan and India appeared to reaffirm the British perspectives that contributed to its precipitation, even as it evidenced the various other social, political, and economic dynamics long at play in South Asia. Nevertheless, the political, social, and religious engagements of Pakistanis, Indians, and (later) Bangladeshis continue to undermine the supposedly self-evident conclusions regarding Hinduism and Islam’s purportedly inherent antipathies, even as similar and divergent dynamics emerge in the global South Asian diaspora.

Both the presence of and relationship between Hinduism and Islam in South Asia have puzzled scholars for centuries, given that their ideal, reified forms appear to be mutually exclusive and inherently antagonistic. Scholars have wondered how both came to coexist and flourish on one subcontinent. Earlier theoretical views fastened upon the rootedness of Hinduism in the Indic soil and the routes immigrant Muslims took to arrive there. Hinduism appeared autochthonous and Islam invasive. Hence, Weber 1992 (originally translated in 1958) offers a sociology of religion for South Asia that provides only passing consideration of Muslims, who are mentioned only as foreign interlopers. Similarly, Louis Dumont’s anthropological milestone, Homo Hierarchicus (1966), projects an unbridgeable gap between Hindus and Muslims, even while admitting the prevalence of caste among Muslims. Smith 1991 sidesteps this theme in its attempts to avoid applying the term “religion” to any tradition outside the Christian one. Islam and Hinduism share this non-“religion” status, although Muslims have terms that appear at first glance to be comparable. Since Smith’s alternative is to consider both under the analytic frames of “faith” and “cumulative tradition,” and he simultaneously offers the possibility for widening the differences between them (by focusing on differences in belief) and considering their convergences (by emphasizing the confluence of their traditions). Balagangadhara 2005 embraces Smith’s view of “religion” as a European imposed term, but considers it applicable to Muslims (and Jews) as well as Christians because of its supposed equivalence with singular belief. Hence, an unbridgeable divide opens between Islam (which Balangangadhara considers as a uniform abstraction uninfluenced by the Indian context) and what can best be described as “Indian traditions” (since “Hinduism” as a term is dismissed). Masuzawa 2005 offers a history of the adoption of the term “world religion” and its haphazard application to Islam and Hinduism. Roy 1983 , Eaton 1994 , and Stewart 2003 attempt to theorize the gradual Islamization of large portions of Bengal’s population. Roy advances his syncretism thesis in an effort to view Bengali versions of Islam as not a diminutive version of some ideal Islam but as a “big tradition” by itself. Eaton contextualizes these changes within a complex social, political, and economic landscape that helped shape religious identity. Stewart 2003 directly contradicts Roy, since Stewart sees the syncretistic thesis as focused on the end result (the contemporary tradition) instead of on the process, which is anything but the direct line of development many commentators assume. Pernau 2005 calls for a focus on individuals’ multiple, fluid identities that allow for everyday intercommunal relations.

Balagangadhara, S. N. “The Heathen in His Blindness . . .”: Asia, the West and the Dynamic of Religion . 2d ed. New Delhi: Manohar, 2005.

Balagangadhara declares religion to be a Western Christian concept applicable to Christian, Jewish, and Islamic traditions alone, and not to “Indian traditions.” In the latter, different conditions of belief do not require the orthodoxy that the author considers necessary for a “religion,” and hence Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism do not exist as such.

Eaton, Richard M. The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760 . Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994.

In order to explain how the establishment of an Indo-Muslim community in Bengal led to its vast expansion over a period of five centuries, Eaton proposes a model for the gradual, nearly imperceptible Islamization of the regional population. This suggests stages of inclusion, identification, and displacement.

Masuzawa, Tomoko. The Invention of World Religion: Or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.

Drawing attention to the European construction of the category “world religions,” Masuzawa identifies the Western interests that plumbed linguistic and literary evidence to delineate which qualified as such. European scholars wrestled with the classification of Islam and Hinduism according to what they considered the dictates of science required.

Pernau, Margrit. “Multiple Identities and Communities: Re-contextualizing Religion.” In Religious Pluralism in South Asia and Europe . Edited by Jamal Malik and Helmut Reifeld, 147–169. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Challenging the Hindu-Muslim binary, Pernau argues for multiple identities that connect any one individual to various communities. These identities require various shades of loyalty—from weak to exclusive—depending upon the social context. Hinduism and Islam, therefore, do not represent monolithic, concrete blocks but communities with constantly shifting associations and often fluid boundaries.

Roy, Asim. The Islamic Syncretistic Tradition in Bengal . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983.

Roy provides a model of syncretism to account for the large population of Bengali Muslims. He argues that Sufis created an alternative Islam through the use of symbols and narratives that communicated emotional content attractive to the people indigenous to the region.

Smith, Wilfred Cantwell. The Meaning and End of Religion . Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991.

Smith’s effort to declare the European Christian category of “religion” as inadequate because it is without analogy in any other religion leads him to an examination of nearly comparable terms within other traditions. His analysis offers an implicit comparison of Hindu and Muslim portrayals of Hinduism and Islam, as well as conceptualizations of dharma and din . Originally published in 1962.

Stewart, Tony. “In Search of Equivalence: Conceiving the Muslim-Hindu Encounter through Translation Theory.” In India’s Islamic Traditions, 711–1750 . Edited by Richard M. Eaton, 363–392. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Stewart outlines the pragmatic efforts of Muslim individuals and groups to understand non-Muslims and translate Islamic perspectives into local Bengali vernaculars.

Weber, Max. The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism . Translated by Hans H. Gerth and Don Martindale. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1992.

Identifying religious institutions and their related social circles as central to Indian views, Weber advanced a sociology to account for the purported failure of India to industrialize and modernize. English translation originally published in 1958.

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Christianity and Islam are some of the largest religions in the world today. Relative to the massive followers there are quite some intriguing differences and similarities that can be found between the two, from their beliefs, their origin, practices and doctrines (Redditt). The Christians belief in the holy trinity, which comprises of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, while the Islam believe in Allah as their God and Mohamed as the true Prophet. While there are quite a number of differences between the two religions, there are also similarities to match. One of the major similarities is the fact that the two are Abrahamic religions, meaning that they both believe that there is only one God. This paper delves into the aspect of the afterlife and that of deities between the two religions, by trying to establish the main differences and similarities.

Judaism And Hinduism Similarities

Judaism and Hinduism are two religion that have been very effective towards people for a number of years now. The two have resulted in many following them as a religion, and believing strongly in the teachings, beliefs and even adding it to their everyday lives. As to Judaism, originated with the ancient Hebrews (or Israelites), maintains that one all-powerful God (Yahweh) exists and has a special relationship with his followers, the Jews (Hutchinson 2018). Then on the other hand, Hinduism is a way of life rather than a body of beliefs (Johnson 2013). The two have very many similarities, such as both being found and practiced all across the world, sharing food at religious ceremonies as Jews celebrate the last supper, viewing themselves as

Compare And Contrast Hinduism And Judaism

Both of the religions Hinduism and Judaism are similar but different in their own ways. Hinduism worships many gods and goddesses, whereas Judaism is a confirmedly monotheistic religion. In the Hinduism religion the bedrock is the belief that the Vedas is sacred and the caste system decribed in it. “Hinduism is a guide to life, and the goal of which is to reach union with Brahman, the unchanging ultimate reality”(75). The dharma or moral law that need to be followed. There are many gods that were worshiped and each person may worship a different god. Images of the gods in homes or temples were presented where each person can show devotion to their personal gods by singing hymns or offering flowers before the images. The Hindus believe in many things such as that the universe undergoes and endless cycle of creation, believe in karma, that the soul reincarnates, the belief that all life is sacred.

Compare And Contrast Hinduism And Islamic Faith

There are ways that Hinduism is similar to both Judaism and the Islamic Faith. The foundations along with the beliefs and practices of Hinduism traces back to when it all first began. That is mostly similar to Judaism and Islam because they are traced back to the Biblical times. All three of them believe the fact that there is one God. Hinduism and Judaism is the two oldest religions in the world. Hindus has believed that creation and origin of the universe is much more similar to Genesis mentioned in the Old Testament. Judaism is a divided religion, which as that Hinduism the relation between God and individual souls range from one to a qualified division. The one thing that Jews and Muslims would disagree on with Hindus is

Hinduism Research Paper

Hinduism is the 3rd largest religion in the world, after Christianity and Islam. This paper goes over the complexity of Hinduism’s history, and Hinduism’s perspective and beliefs about various aspects of life and death, and how your lifestyle can affect your future. This also covers whether or not Hinduism is a monotheistic or polytheistic religion, and a few of the significant deities they worship, dealing with the creation, preservation, and destruction of the world.

Hinduism And Islamic Religious Beliefs

There are so many religions around the world that it is hard to understand what their beliefs are. Religion can influence in culture, art, and politics. Religions also can impact in many ways but can learn about some certain religions to know about more religions. Two of the religions are Hinduism and Islam. Hinduism and Islamic religion have been around for centuries, but Hinduism is older than Islamic religion. Those two religions interested me to know about their places, the services, and worship.

Analysis: Why Is Hinduism A Major Religion Around The World

Margret Atwood once said, “Religions in general have to rediscover their roots. In Hinduism and the Koran, animals are described as equals. If you walk into a cathedral and look at the decoration of early Christianity, there are vines, animals, creatures, and birds thriving all over the stonework. Hinduism has survived many years with their beliefs. Hinduism is a major religion around the world. Just like many other religions, Hinduism has a variety of beliefs about deities, life after death, and personal conduct. Some of the important deities that they believe in are Vishnu, Shiva, and Shakti. They have six of the schools of philosophy have developed throughout. the centuries.

Hinduism, Buddhism, and the Human Condition Essay

Hinduism and Buddhism are both eastern traditions with much to say about the human condition as well as the reason human beings exist at all. In some ways they are different while also being similar in other ways. In this essay, those differences will be discussed and the similarities examined for their message. In conclusion, we will examine what these two faiths offer to the human beings of the twenty-first century.

Religion: Hinduism and Islam Essay

Hinduism and Islam are two largely practiced religions, specifically in India and the subcontinents. Both Hinduism and Islam have unique practices and traditions, which can vary depending on the town, region or people. They share a common belief in a supreme god, that being either Brahma or Allah respectively. The traditions differ on the central texts used, as well as differences in the process of reaching the afterlife and basic beliefs.

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