Islamic studies

CHAPTER # 2

Major religions of the world part 1

 Hinduism
 Judaism
This is our second chapter of Islamic Studies. In this chapter we
will discuss the major religions of the world. In addition, the
chapter includes the discussion on varying social and religious
customs and their comparison with Islam.

The major religions in the world are Hinduism, Judaism,

Christianity and Islam.

First, we will discuss about the Hinduism.

The few basics of Hinduism that you will observe are,

The history of Hinduism.

The founder (s) of Hinduism

The beliefs of Hinduism.

Lastly, I will cover the comparison between Islam and Hinduism

History of Hinduism

Hinduism is one of the major non-Semitic religions.

But the history of the Hindu religion is not preserved. Even the
Hindus living in India themselves have never written about their
history. One of the most renowned writers of Hinduism, Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in his book that unlike China, Greece
and the Arabs, the people of ancient India were not historians
and this is our great misfortune.

Founder of the Hindu religion

As far as the question of the founder of Hinduism is concerned

The way history is silent about the religion, it is also silent about
the founder. Quite astonishingly, the founder of the Hindu
religion is unknown. Hindus cannot claim that they know the
founder of the religion, although some history books name
some people but the beliefs of Hindu religion do not match
with these personalities, so they cannot be called as the
founders of the Hindu religion.

Religious beliefs of Hinduism

Third thing is about the beliefs of Hinduism

Belief in Avagon

One of the religious beliefs is called the Avagon. According to

this belief, when a person dies, he is reborn in a different form.
If he has performed good deeds in his first or previous life, he
will reborn in a good form, and if he has done evil or bad deeds
he will have a bad form.

According to this belief, it is not necessary for one to have a

human form, rather he or she may take a form of an animal, a
bird, a tree, a fruit or a flower.

Ritual of Niyoga

One of the rituals in Hinduism is called Niyoga which was

introduced by Swami Dayanand.

This ritual is modern form of Sati. In which the widow would be

dressed as a bride and would be burnt alive along with her
husband, when the husband dies. Sati was later replaced by
another ritual, called Niyoga.

According to this Niyoga ritual, a widow is not allowed to

remarry, but she is permitted to have relations with another
man in order to have children. Such relationship is called
Niyoga.
Caste system

Another strong belief of Hinduism is the caste system.

Apparently, most of the modern Hindus do not like it but Hindu
society is yet unable to get rid of the caste system as it is
written in their religious books.

There are four castes among the Hindus and this division of
castes is in fact the division of humanity in which a human
being is classified according to his superiority over the other.

The most superior of the four castes are the Brahmins,

Then comes Kshatriya caste and then there are Vaishya on the
third number. The last and lower most caste is Shudra.

Thus, it is written in the Hindu religious book Veda that

"Brahmans are born from the mouth of God, Kshatriya are born
from the arm of God, Vaishya are born from the thighs of God
and Shudras are born from the feet of God".

These are some of the religious beliefs and rituals written in the
books of Hinduism.
Comparison of Islam and Hinduism

Now we will compare between Islam and Hinduism and

observe the fundamental differences between Islam and
Hinduism.

The first difference:

Islam presents the concept of monotheism, that is, belief

in one God, while Hindus worship many gods.

The second difference:

The second difference is about the concept of a

messenger. There is no such belief as a prophet in Hinduism,
whereas Islam says no one can be a Muslim without believing in
the prophets.

The third difference:

The second difference is about the caste system. Hindus

have four castes, Whereas, all Muslims are equal in the eyes of
Allah. Hence, all human beings have equal rights as Islam
propagates equality and justice.
The fourth difference:

The fourth difference is of relationship between men and

women. It is based on respect and dignity in Islam, while in
Hinduism there are rituals like Niyoga.

These are some basic differences between Islam and Hinduism.

Judaism
The second religion we will discuss about is Judaism. It is one of
the ancient religions of the world.

The Jews are also known as Bani-Israel, and this word appears
frequently in the Holy Qur'an.

In fact, Bani Israel means the children of Israel and Israel is the
title of Hazrat Yaqub (as) which means servant of Allah and it is
a Hebrew word which is made up of ‘’Isra’’ and ‘’el’’. ‘’Isra’’
means servant and ‘’el’’ means Allah. If you read it together, it
becomes Israel, and Israel means, servant of Allah

Hence, as the Jews are descendants of the Prophet Yaqoob

(peace be upon him), they are also called Bani Israel.
History of the Jews

Before the advent of Prophet Mosa (AS), the Jews were divided
into many groups, some people worshiped family gods, and
each family had its own idol.

Another subset of people used to worship stones and used to

make their idols by carving stones and some people used to
worship kings and made their idols.

So, one of the kings named Molech became so famous and

became object of worship for jews who went so far that they
started sacrificing their children in his name and later on this
Molech was called Yahuda.

The religious condition of the Jews

These were the general condition of Jews, therefore, Allah

Almighty chose Hazrat Mosa as his prophet to bring them back
to track of righteousness. Allah Almighty revealed the Torah to
Mosa (AS) which were the commandments and were revealed
to the Jews. The Jewish scholars used it for personal gains,
altered the revealed book and thus the Torah now is not in its
original state. So, religiously the Jews became completely
corrupt.

Jewish festivals

Jews celebrate different festivals.

One among these is the weekly festival. It is celebrated on

Saturdays. On this day, the Jews close their business completely
and celebrate this day as a holiday.

Passover

The second festival celebrated by the Jews is called Passover.

This is the day on which the Jews were saved from the
oppression of Pharaoh. Hence, they celebrate it. The Passover
lasts for eight days.

Purim day

Another festival that the Jews celebrate is called Purim Day.

The background of this event is that Haman (one of the official
of Old Persian Empire) was an enemy of the Jews who
conspired against the Jews. Once he made a great conspiracy to
kill the Jews, but the conspiracy was exposed before the king,
so the king killed Haman as punishment. Thus, the event is
celebrated as a festival.

There are many other festivals that Jews celebrate, including

Rosh Hashana and Yom Kaffara ect.

Comparison between Islam and Judaism

The basic difference between Islam and Judaism is that the

Jews consider prophet Uzair (AS) to be the son of God, whereas
according to Islam he was prophet of Almighty.

The second difference between Islam and Judaism is that the

Jews rest on Saturday and have a holiday, and their belief
behind it is that God created the universe in six days and then
got tired and he took rest on Saturday. Remember that there is
no such concept in Islam. And Allah Almighty is free from all
these limitations.

The third major difference between Islam and Judaism is that

Islam teaches respect for the prophets, However, there are
many prophets among the Jews, but they do not respect those
prophets. Their (Jews) ancestors fabricated accusations against
many prophets and killed many as well.

Another difference between Islam and Judaism is regarding the

Holy scriptures. Allah Almighty revealed the Holy Qur'an to the
Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) which
is free from all kinds of errors, changes, and adulterations
while the Jews made many alterations in the Torah and added
many things on their own.

So, these were some of the differences that existed between

Judaism and Islam.