Islam and Hinduism, Term Paper Example

Islam is the fastest growing global religion (Foreign Policy)and was founded by Muhammad in modern-day Saudi Arabia. Today, there are more than one billion Muslims in the world (ThinkQuest)who believe that there is only one god called Allah and the duty of mankind is to worship him and follow his commands and accept Muhammad as the final prophet of god. Muslims also believe that Islam is the third and the final among the Abrahamic faiths which include Christianity and Judaism. The Five Pillars of Islam are Testimony of Faith, Prayer, Almsgiving, Fasting, and Pilgrimage (Huda).

On the other hand, little is known about the origins or the founder of modern-day Hinduism. There are more than 330 million deities in India most of whom represent the underlying Hindu belief that divine has countless faces (Fisher, 2005).Spirituality is an important aspect of Hinduism. While Muslims believe in the Day of Judgment, Hinduism believes in the continuous cycle of life, death, and rebirth called Samsara and the ultimate goal of every Hindu is to break free of this never-ending cycle and achieve Moksha(Encyclopaedia Britannica).

The thing I find most profound in Islam is that one is only superior in the eyes of Allah through his conduct and no preference is given to one’s race, color, or kinship(Al-Islam). This seems to be a stand against racism that one’s status in the eyes of Allah is not determined by his background over which one may have no control but by his deeds over which one does have control. This is impressive because Islam took a stand against racism quite a long time ago and we still face issues of racism in the modern world. As far as Hinduism is concerned, the thing I find most profound is that there are many ways to reach god and not only one(GodWeb). Even though some may found the idea of millions of gods in Hinduism confusing and unnecessary, I see several benefits in this concept. First of all, it prevents division and conflicts within religion that plague many other faiths including Islam and Christianity where each group such as Protestants and Catholics in Christianity or Sunni and Shia in Islam believe they follow the correct version of the religion and other factions are wrong. The result is intolerance and even violence against each other.

The thing I found least profound about Islam is Sharia which among other things also tries to shape political affairs. This may be why most Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan do not practice separation of church and state and there are often news of discrimination against other religious groups in these respective countries. The problem with the involvement of religion in state affairs is that it also imposes the state religion on those who do not practice it and, thus, create inhospitable environment for minority groups. As we see in the U.S. and other developed countries, separation of church and state creates more diverse societies in which different religious groups can co-exist peacefully.

The thing I found least profound in Hinduism is the caste system. According to the caste system, one’s status in society is determined not by one’s achievements or hard work but by one’s birth(Department of Philosophy, Lander University). This system prevents people from changing their own fate and rewards or punishes them due to factors outside their control. This system also ensures that the ruling class will have little or no resistance to their authority even if their conduct may be inhuman.

Even though I like some aspects of Hinduism, the caste system and the system of rebirth (which also assumes that one’s current status in life is the outcome of one’s conduct in previous lives) outweigh many of the positive elements of the faith. Thus, I think Islam is relatively better approach to life because it at least gives some power to individuals to shape their destiny. Even though Islam goes a bit too far in rules, some rules are good because they bring order to the society and decrease confusion by providing explicit guidelines. I also like Islam’s approach to racism because it leads to more open mind towards other racial and ethnic groups. One of Islam’s five pillars is Almsgiving which helps ease some of the economic equalities in the society by redistributing some of the wealth from the rich to the poor.

Islam is more worthy of my belief because it does share some elements with other great religions such as Christianity and Judaism. Even though I wish Islam had included all faiths in its concept of community but the Islam concept of all Muslims as one nation does create a sense of unity despite racial, cultural, and national backgrounds. Islamic concept of fasting is a good example of self-control. Islam also states that everyone will be judged on the Day of Judgment on the basis of deeds in this world, thus, it doesn’t judge people on their so-called previous lives. Islam also doesn’t put any restrictions on upward mobility in the society, unlike the caste system.Even though Islamic requirement of prayers five times a day is too much for most people and there are very few Muslims I know who offer even one or two prayers a day, this practice may help some not become too obsessed with materialism and may even help ease some depression through connection with god.

References

Al-Islam. Part Eight: Basis of Nationalism. 4 November 2012 <http://www.al-islam.org/islamandnationalism/10.htm>.

Department of Philosophy, Lander University. Hinduism: The Caste System, Reincarnation, and Karma . 4 November 2012 <http://philosophy.lander.edu/oriental/caste.html>.

Encyclopaedia Britannica. Hinduism. 4 November 2012 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/266312/Hinduism/261616/Karma-samsara-and-moksha>.

Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions. Prentice-Hall, 2005.

Foreign Policy. The List: The World’s Fastest-Growing Religions. 14 May 2007. 4 November 2012 <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2007/05/13/the_list_the_worlds_fastest_growing_religions>.

GodWeb. What is Hinduism. 4 November 2012 <http://www.godweb.org/whatishinduism.htm>.

Huda. Introduction to Islam. 4 November 2012 <http://islam.about.com/od/basicbeliefs/p/intro.htm>.

ThinkQuest. Introduction. 4 November 2012 <http://library.thinkquest.org/28505/islam/intro.htm>.