WHICH RELIGION
DR MUHAMMAD FAZLUR RAHMAN ANSARI
(RA)
A SHORT COMPARATIVE STUDY OF
CHRISTIANITY, JUDAISM,
HINDUISM, BUDDHISM AND ISLAM
Introduction
When we analyse the concept of Religion we find that
this concept is constituted of three factors, namely, God, Universe and Man.
All the different discussions that are involved in religious thought hinge on
these three factors. Consequently, we shall have to approach the problem of the
study of the above-mentioned religions in the perspective of these factors and
their connected problems, in which the most important and comprehensive is the
problem of the "scheme of salvation".
Taking the last point first: So far as the concept
of Salvation is concerned, the religions under discussion fall under two head:-
(1) Religions of Salvation;
(2) Religions of
The Religions of Salvation are: Christianity,
Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. In fact, all the religions of
the world, with the exception of Islam, are the Regions of Salvation.
As regards Religions of Fulfillment, there is only
one, and that is Islam.
The Religions of Salvation are again divided into
two categories:
(a) those whose concept of salvation is linear, namely:
they teach the advance of human life in the linear style wherein human life passes
through the gateway of death to continue beyond the grave and to attain heaven
or hell:
(b) those whose concept of salvation is cyclic, 10
namely: they teach continuous transmigration of souls in cycle upon cycle.
Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism belong to category (a)
Hinduism and Buddhism belong to category (b)
Behind these differences in points of view concerning salvation and fulfillment are the philosophies of life which are grounded in definite notions concerning the nature of man, the nature of the universe and the nature of God.
The concept of salvations originates essentially in
the belief that this world is evil, that the sojourn of humanity on this planet is basically evil, and
that consequently the human beings should endeavour to find ways and means of
rescue or escape from this evil world and this evil life and thus attain
salvation.
The foundation of the concept of fulfillment, on the
other hand, is the belief that the world is essentially good. According to
Islam, which is the religion of fulfillment, God is Absolutely Good, and because
He is Absolutely Good all His actions must of necessity be good. Consequently,
all His creation is good, which means that the world is good, the human
personality is good and the social relations are good. This being so, all human
beings are born sinless, and here Islam stands in contradistinction with
Christianity which says that human beings are born in sin. Islam also differs
with other religions in its ideal of saintliness. Thus, while, for instance,
Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity teach ascetic- ism and renunciation of the
world as the way to acquire Holiness, Islam is emphatic in the assertion that
human life should be lived to the fullest, of course within the legitimate
bounds of healthy existence. According to Islam, God has endowed the human
beings with certain faculties and powers and the purpose of this endowment is
that the human beings should employ and develop those faculties and powers in
the earthly life. These faculties and powers cannot, however, be brought into
play except in social environment. Hence, social life and social relations are
essentially good. It is through social morality and subjugation of the natural
forces by means of physical science and personal spiritual development through an all-pervading love for and
devotion to God Almighty that humanity can attain, according to Islam, the
status of saintliness, or, in other words, the status of the Vicegerency of
God.
We may now take up the religions that have been
selected for study and discuss their teachings under the three heads that we
mentioned in the beginning, viz., God, Universe and Man.
Christianity
Christian scholars class Christianity as a mono-
theistic religion. But, it must be admitted that if Christianity is
monotheistic in any sense of the word, its monotheism must be regarded as of a
peculiar or, at least, special type. For, actually it preaches the conception
of the Triune God. The members of the Christian Godhead are three: God the
Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost (or, from another point of view,
Goddess the Mother). These three members of the Trinity are said to be one and
yet three. The Christian formula of Godhead is: Three in One and One in Three.
But the statement of the formula presents, to say the least, an enigma to human
understanding. The three members of the Godhead are three persons. If they had
been three attributes of the same God, Christian "monotheism" would
have been understandable. But, neither God the Father, nor God the Son, nor God
the Holy Ghost is an attribute. Rather, they are definite persons and, as far as human
under- standing is concerned, mutually exclusive individuals. This makes
Christian "monotheism" a full-blooded a full-bloc polytheism.
The Christian notion of Godhead is not only deeply
mystifying but also flagrantly blasphemous. The belief in Jesus as "the
only begotten Son of God" makes the Christian concept of God anthropomorphic,
on the one hand, and hurls the greatest conceivable blasphemy on God, on the
other. There are some more points of blasphemy also in the Christian faith in
God inasmuch as the Old Testament forms a vital part of the Christian Bible. To
those blasphemies we shall refer when we discuss Judaism.
The view of Christianity with regard to the world is
that it is evil. This fact emerges in the Christian notion which say that human
life on earth is essentially evil. Christianity regards the human soul as noble
and holy and the human body as evil and the playground of Satan. Consequently,
the ideal of saintliness or godly life is that which is represented in the life
of the biblical Jesus, viz., the ideal of asceticism and renunciation of
physical pleasure and social relations. This ideal has been pursued from the
very beginning in the form of the institution of monks and nuns.
In connection with life-after-death, Christianity
teaches a crude form of the doctrine of heaven and hell. It upholds salvation
is a linear style as opposed to the cyclic order of Reincarnation.
Judaism
As regards Judaism, the religious thought of the
Jews developed not all at once but through centuries. The texts on which
Judaism is based are many. All of them combined together in one corpus are
called "Torah" or the "Old Testament"
When we analyse the teachings of Judaism, the first
thing that strikes us is the presence of conflicting views. Thus, in connection
with the conception of God we find the most primitive and even blasphemous
notions, on the one hand, and the idea of pure monotheism, on the other. For
instance, in the very beginning of the book we find the remark that God created
the world in six days and rested on the seventh day-the day of the Sabbath.
Now, this idea of rest casts a slur on the personality of God, because rest is
always induced by fatigue and fatigue is caused by the consumption of limited
energy. Hence, to say that God needed rest after six days of labour means that
God's energy had been consumed and He was thus suffering from fatigue. In other
words, God's Power is limited, namely, God suffers from lack of Power. But he
who suffers from lack of power cannot be called God because God must be
infinite in His Being as well as in all His Attributes.
Another instance of blasphemy against God is to be
found in the continuation of the same story of Creation where it has been said that
when Eve and Adam had committed the first sin, God repented.
Now, situation for repentance arises only on the
basis of ignorance and lack of power to control one's affairs. A man feels
sorry only when he commits an act which he later on finds to be wrong. He also
feels sorry if he is unable to perform an act which it is necessary for him to
perform. Sorrow comes because of lack of power.
Proceeding further in the story of Creation, we find
that God refused to forgive Adam. Now Adam was the first human being and his
sin was the first sin-and that too of quite a simple type. It was not a crime
like the crime of murder. The only injury that Adam had done was to himself
alone. It is a principle followed in the law courts of the world that they take
the first offence lightly and very often try to forgive the culprit or at least
to mitigate the punishment. But, according to the Old Testament, God refused to
forgive the first simple offence of the first simple human being. The only
logical conclusion that we can derive from it is that He can never forgive
anyone. Here the Old Testament teaches the absence of the will-to-forgive in
the personality of God,
The above discussion shows that, although Judaism
preaches monotheism, which is its merit, its conception of God is extremely
defective, nay, even blasphemous. For, a God who suffers from finitude in his
power and knowledge and who lacks the power of mercy is actually no God at all.
He is only a magnified human being. And this brings us to the anthropomorphic
character of the Jewish conception of God. The Jewish monotheism is of
a primitive type. The conception of Jehovah
seems to be that of a tribal god and bears no comparison with the sublime,
comprehensive and faultless Islamic monotheism.
) "Yahweh moulds man like a potter; he plants the garden
of 1 Cf. Eden and walks through it in the cool of the evening potamian. Adam
hears his footsteps. He comes down from heaven to see the building of the Tower
of Babel, He eats and drinks with Abraham, and the latter washes his feet. He
struggles with Jacobs and allow himself to be overcome" D' Alviella:
Origin and Growth of the Conception of God, p. 216.
(
The Jewish outlook on human life is more realistic
and practical than that of Christianity. The Jewish moral code has many
elements of value, although it has been marred by racialism.
(It has been marred by obscenities
and vulgarities attributed to the Prophets of God in the Scripture itself.)
Judaism
emphasizes the supremacy of man in creation and the importance of earthly
existence. Its conception of salvation is the next world is based on the notion
of law with rewards and punishments in the form of heaven and hell۔
Hinduism
Hinduism is the most undefinable religion in the world.
Indeed, it is more of a social order than a religion in the strict sense of the
word. A person who believes in one God can be a Hindu; a person who believes in
three gods can also be a Hindu; a person who believes in millions of gods, he
too can be a Hindu; and so also a person who believes in no god.
Hinduism is actually the story of a race-the race of
Central Asian Aryans who brought certain beliefs of nature-worship and certain
principles of social organisation when they conquered the northern plains of
India and subjugated its people. They foisted their beliefs on the conquered
races and at the same time absorbed the beliefs and social habits of their
subjects. Thus a hotchpotch was created in which mutually conflicting beliefs
and mutually fighting gods and goddesses were accommodated. Indeed, when we
study and investigate the beliefs and practices of Hinduism, we find that
Hinduism stands not for one religion but a number of religious systems, among
which the only common doctrines appear to be those of Karma and transmigration
of souls.
Hinduism, like Judaism, is the religion of
particular race. A Hindu is born and not made. For, unlike Islam and
Christianity, Hinduism does not believe in the conversion of the non-Hindus to
Hinduism. And it is not only racialism which is the characteristic of Hinduism
but also the caste- system. Namely, not only is a Hindu tied to a certain race
but also to a particular caste. Every Hindu is born either a Brahmin or a
Khattriya or a Vaishya or a Sudra. No amount of moral greatness or acts of
chivalry or any other distinction can enable a person to change his caste or to
rise from the lower to the higher caste in his life.
Hinduism has the peculiarity, among all the
religions of the world, of excommunicating the members of its own fold,
treating them as untouchables by reason of their birth and persecuting them in
a manner which defies description. For instance, the great Hindu law-giver,
Manu, has laid down the law that every member of the Brahmin caste is so holy
and every member of the Sudra caste is so unholy and despicable that if any
Sudra comes so near to a Brahmin that the voice of the Sudra can reach the ear
of the Brahmin, the Sudra is to be punished for defiling the holiness of the
Brahmin by pouring molten lead into the ears of the Sudra. This being the case,
the question of inter-marriages and other social relations is ruled out
completely. And when this is the treatment which Hinduism metes out to its own
members, its attitude towards the members of other religions and races can be
well imagined. Indeed, for a Hindu all non-Hindus are untouchables. They are,
in his opinion, not only spiritually inferior but also socially condemned and
contemptible. This means that Hinduism has absolutely no notion of common
humanity and no idea of fundamental and universal human rights.
As regards the theory of the Transmigration of Souls
and its foundation, the theory of Karma, they appear to be irrational and
unacceptable when weighed in the balance of human reason. The Hindu view of salvation
is cyclic, viz., there are cycles upon cycles of rebirth through which every
human being must pass times without number in order to attain salvation.
According to Hinduism, if a person commits more vices than virtues in his life,
he is born again in this world in a lower caste or even in a lower category of
existence. This, according to Hinduism, happens in order to punish for his misdeeds
and also to enable him to work his way to salvation. Thus a person may be born
again and again.
This theory, however, does not stand the test of
reason. In the first instance, to realise that a person is suffering or
benefiting on any particular occasion in this life because of action performed
in a previous life on this earth, it is necessary that every human being should
have a complete picture of his supposed previous life at all moments and on all
occasions. Otherwise, the purpose of his re-birth would be defeated. But no
such picture exists in the mind of any human being. Secondly, if we pick up an
immature seed from a tree and wish to get a tree from that seed in spite of its
immaturity, we never paste or pin that seed back on the tree. Rather, we try to
get the best of the seed by providing better manure and better conditions. Similar
is the case of the human personality. When a human being leaves this world
without achieving that purity and maturity which is necessary for salvation,
nature should not and would not paste and pin him again on the tree of earthly
life, but should provide for him conditions whereby his impurity and immaturity
may be remedied and he may be able to proceed on the path of evolution.
Thirdly, evolution is an established law of the human personality as well as of
the universe. But evolution is always linear and never cyclic. Hence, on this
score also the theory of salvation through transmigration of souls is un-
acceptable.
Buddhism
Buddhism was born in India as a revolt against
certain principles and institutions of Hinduism, although in its basic
characteristics it was and is virtually an offshoot of Hinduism. It was a
revolt inasmuch as it broke off the fetters of the caste- system which forms
the corner-stone of the Hindu social order. It was a revolt also in the sense
that it substituted a virtually impersonal concept of God- or a concept of
non-existence of God-in contra- distinction to the anthropomorphic and
pluralistic Hindu concept of Godhead. It was an offshoot of Hinduism inasmuch
as it retained the Hindu doctrines of Karma and Awa Gawan (reincarnation and
trans- migration of souls). Now, these two doctrines form actually the
foundation and the basic distinguishing characteristics of the Hindu philosophy
of religion. Consequently, there are scholars who are inclined to regard
Buddhism as only one of the numerous sects of Hinduism.
The starting point of the Buddhist movement is well
known to the students of Indian history. We are told that Gotama was a member
of a princely house of the Hindus, that he was deeply stirred by the sufferings
of humanity, that he left his hearth and home in search of solution for the
human sufferings, that he remained absorbed in contemplation and meditation for
years, and that he attained Buddhahood, namely, Enlightenment, under a tree at
Buddh-Gaya-a place in the province of Bihar, India.
The solution at which Gotama Buddha arrived through
his Enlightenment was that the only way to conquer suffering was to negate all
Desire. This is called the doctrine of world-and-life-negation. According to
this doctrine, the world is unreal; it is an illusion; it is a trap. Therefore,
it should be avoided. All sufferings come through the cultivation of desires
for possessing the things of the world. But because this world is a trap the
wise man (Buddhist) should cut off all his relations with the world, including
social relations born of marriage. He should live the life of a mendicant,
namely, of a roaming beggar who should have no home, no worldly duties and no
worldly aspirations. It is said about Gotama Buddha himself that when he left
his home in search of truth he had his wife whom he left behind, and when after
years of wanderings he returned to his native place he did not return to his
wife.
Another doctrine of Buddhism is that of Ahimsa,
namely, total abstention from punishing anyone. and killing anyone. The
Buddhists are famous as protagonists of this doctrine, although because the
doctrine is unnatural and non-human no Buddhist community has been able to
practise it in its logical implications. Rather, Buddhism had to continuously
modify its teachings in order to meet the natural exigencies of social life and
the rational demands of human nature. Thus Buddhists have been marrying and
thereby perpetuating social relations and they have been engaging themselves in
trade and industry and politics and even war. And still they have remained
Buddhists!
Besides several minor sects of Buddhism there are
three important sects, namely, the Mahayana, the Hinayana and the Zen.
The Hinayana sect is so called because it formed the
minority group of the Buddhists after the famous Council of Patna. The
followers of this sect seem to be the most orthodox and more loyal to the
spirit and teachings of Buddha. They believe in asceticism and
other-worldliness. The Mahayana group has named itself so because it formed the
majority group at the Council of Patna and it has remained so up to this day.
It penetrated to the north and east of India and it adopted an outlook which
accommodates the worldly duties of mankind. The ideal human beings, according
to this sect also, are the ascetics, but it permits social relations as a
natural and necessary evil. Its comparative popularity over the Hinayan sect is
in the main due to the concession it gives to worldly relations. But even this
sect is averse to the military profession and it regards the act of taking up
weapons as totally opposed to Buddhism. But war is a vital fact of human life
and a necessary part of the activity of all nations, and even the Buddhists,
however much they might detest it, are bound to face it. Consequently, as time
progressed and the practical difficulties in following the Buddhist philosophy
of life became more and more apparent, modifications in Buddhist teachings went
further and further. Thus when Buddhism entered Japan and it gained followers
among the militarist Japanese, a new version of Buddhist philosophy emerged in
the form of Zen Buddhism which permits and promotes fully the militarist
aspirations. Thus, although Buddhism started as a pacifist movement, it has
ended in conceding the demands of those who regard military profession and
fighting as virtues.
Both Buddhist theology and moral philosophy appear
to be based on wrong foundations from the point of view of human reason.
Buddhist theology gives us an impersonal blind force in place of God, on the
one hand, and naked anthropomorphism. And all the evils of animistic idolatry,
on the other. Thus Buddhism is a two-edged sword which murders the concept of
God right through. In the domain of moral philosophy, the doctrine of the total
negation of all Desire is a hopeless doctrine, because it turns human beings
into stones. It is only stones who may be conceived to have no desires. As
regards human beings, desire is the first and foremost condition of their
activity and the most vital foundation of their progress. The only thing that can
be wrong about desire is to have an evil desire or to have desire in a wrong
measure. Therefore, a true moral philosophy would never negate all desire but
only wrong desires and desires in wrong measure, as Islam teaches; while the
negation of all desire would mean the negation of good desires also, which
standpoint cannot be accepted by any rational human being.
As regards the doctrines of Karma and Awa Gawan,
whiled the doctrine of Karma seems too rational in its normal implications,
viz., that the effect is conditioned by the cause, the doctrine of
transmigration of souls has absolutely no foundation in human experience, as
has been already discussed in connection with Hinduism.
Islam
Islam was born in the broad daylight of human
history. Indeed, it is the only religion which is fully historical and whose
scripture exists today without the minutest change. It is also the only
religion about whose founder's life we possess a complete and most detailed
information.
The authenticity and purity of the text of the Holy
Qur'an stands in sharp contrast with the veracity of the Christian Gospels, for
instance. The Gospels were not dictated by Jesus Christ (peace be on him),
while the Holy Qur'an was dictated word for word by the Holy Prophet Mohammad
(peace be on him). The first authorised version of the Gospels was not in
existence before 321 A.C., while the authorised version of the Holy Qur'an was
ready in the lifetime of the Holy Prophet. Then, there is only one version of
the Holy Qur'an while there are four versions of the Gospels, viz., according
to Mark, according to Matthew, according to Luke and according to John. Again,
these four versions have been continuously subjected to revision.
As regards the historicity of the personalities of
Jesus and Mohammad (God bless both of them): the only period of the life of
Jesus about which we know anything covers hardly two years, and there too we
get only brief references to his miracles and his struggle and no detailed
information about his personality and character, which means that we cannot get
any comprehensive guidance in our day-to-day life from the personality of
Jesus. The case with the Holy Prophet Mohammad (peace be on him) is entirely
different. From his birth to his last day on the earth, we possess a record of
his life and activity, of his personality and character, of his teachings and
his struggle which is so detailed that even the minutest events of his private
life are to be found there. Indeed, the comprehensiveness of information about
the Holy Prophet's life is so astounding in its dimensions that it forms a
unique phenomenon of human history. This historicity of Islam, its scripture
and its Teacher is the first basic characteristic of Islam as a religion-a
characteristic which is denied to all religions, including Judaism, Hinduism
and Buddhism.
The second characteristic of Islam is that, among
all the Teachers of Religion, it is only the personality of the Holy Prophet
Mohammad (peace be upon him) which is not only historical but also all-dimensional.
There is not a single department of constructive and positive human activity
and there is not a single role in the sphere of the greatness of mankind and
nobility of human character which does not find expression in the life of the Holy
Prophet.
As a religion, Islam stands on seven articles of
faith, namely, belief in:
(1) Existence and Unity of God.
(2) Angels, who are personalities made of Light and
who function as executors of the Will of God in the universe.
(3) The Scriptures and Messages sent by God to
different communities of mankind all over the globe in different ages,
beginning with the Divine Guidance received by Adam and ending with the Holy
Qur'an.
(4) The
Messengers of God from among the human beings who were raised by God in all the
communities of the world since the time of Adam, the first Messenger of God, till
the time of Mohammad, the last and final Messenger of God (peace be upon them
all).
(5) The
Resurrection, nemely, raising up of the deed and reviving them with their total
personalities at the break-up of the present physical order.
(6) The Last
Day when the order of the world will break up to give place to a new order and
all human beings will be called upon to render account of their deeds and God
Jon 25 Almighty will give His Judgment and will give reward or punishment by
sending to lo people into heaven or hell.
(7)
Pre-measurement of good and evil, which means that the world is a reign of law,
that everything and every action is grounded in a definite measure given to it
by God and that conformity to measure is good and deviation from measure is
evil.
From the practical point of view, Islam has been built
on five pillars. They are:
(1) Affirmation and Declaration that there is absolutely
no deity except the Only One God, Allah, who is transcendent, has no only
begotten son' and does not incarnate Himself in any person or thing, and that Mohammad
(peace be upon him) is the Messenger of God-and, as such, the last and the
final.
(2) Performance of the Obligatory Institutional Prayers
prescribed by Islam for the day and the night.
(3) Observance of Fasting during the month of
Ramadan;
(4) Payment of the Social Insurance Tax (Zakat) by
all those who possess the means;
(5) Performance of the Pilgrimage (Hajj) by all
Muslims of means.
The seven Articles and the five Pillars give to
Islam its character as a religion. Islam is not, however, merely a religion
but also a self-contained Culture and a self-sustained Civilisation. The
Cultures of Islam has been conceived on the principles of Knowledge and Piety,
and the struggle of a Muslim's life has been termed Jihad, which means
unrelenting endeavour for the establishment and promotion of Piety, Peace and
Progress. The basic constituents of the Islamic social order are: Equality,
Fraternity and Liberty. The underlying idea of the Islamic society is the
establishment of social, political and spiritual democracy. The guiding
principle of the Islamic economic system is what has been laid down in the Holy
Qur'an in the following verse: "Let not wealth circulate only among the
wealthy people of the community". Here it may be noted that Islam is
equally opposed to Capitalism and Communism and it steers a middle course of
balanced Socialism between the two. As a political system, Islam stands for the
supremacy of the law, which means that Islam does not regard anyone, not even
the head of the state, as above the law. As a world-order, Islam stands for
human brotherhood and condemns all ideas of superiority and inferiority based
on caste, class, tribe and race. Indeed, it was Islam that gave to the world,
for the first time in human history, the Charter of Fundamental Human Rights.
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