Islam for Non-Muslims
- RELIGIOUS FAITHS VS IRRELIGIOUS IDEAS
- ISLAM AS A RELIGION
- ISLAM AS A WAY OF LIFE
The Present State of the World Religions
A. RELIGIOUS FAITHS
1: THE PRESENT STATE OF WORLD RELIGIONS
Introduction: Historically, the world has been a stage for spiritual plays of a range of religions. These are different from one another due to variables like age, location, popularity, teachings, emphasis etc. This article aims to offer a factual account on the present state of these religions. Religions is understood in the sense of "the belief in the existence of a god or gods" as per Oxford Dictionary.
(1) Hinduism: Hinduism is the third largest religion worldwide when it comes to following, with heavy concentration in India and Nepal. It is one of the oldest religions, without any clearly known single founder. Many believe in monotheistic origin of Hinduism which in course of time changed to polytheism or faith in many gods. Presently, it has three principal gods: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the Preserver and Shiva the destroyer. Hinduism believes in these three entities as partial manifestations of one god. However, beyond these three, there are many more gods which are too numerous to count. The Hindus use hand-made idols representing these gods for worshipping through extensive rituals. The teachings of Hinduism are written down mainly in Vedas and Upanishad. Traditionally, Hinduism is known for living up to the following cultures:
(i) Caste System: Hindu society is divided into 5 levels with priests at the top and untouchables at the bottom. Usually, such classification explains the differences in social status as well as opportunities. Tradition dictates that if you are born in a lower class, your status in the society cannot move up the ladder in your lifetime despite any gains in education or wealth.
(ii) Reincarnation: It is believed that depending on the quality of your performances (‘karma’), your soul will be reborn on this earth in different body forms. For example, the righteous will be reborn in a rewarding position like an honorable priest or rich and the evil-doers will regain life as a suffering servant or animal. Thus reincarnation idea prevents the lower caste from rebelling against the higher caste as they seek better life in the next phase through patience and peaceful deeds.
(2) Buddhism: Buddhism has strong influence in South East Asian nations. It was founded by Gautama Buddha who was born in Nepal in about 554 B.C. Saddened by earthly sufferings of people, he gave up princely life style and took to meditation in the wilderness until he gained enlightenment with 4 Noble Truths. These Truths suggest that the root cause of human sufferings is selfish desires which can be crushed through the Eightfold Path. This Eightfold Path embodying eight positive virtues like right thinking, right speech, right conduct etc. will relieve you from harmful selfishness. In keeping with this tradition, the Buddhist monks today practice the principles of celibacy, austerity and non-violence.
The active missionary efforts of Buddhism that jumpstarted by the big push from the ancient Indian king Asoka (a Hindu turned Buddhist) that led to its eastward expansion in areas like China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Burma etc. In effect, this was a migration of this religion from its birth place Nepal in Indian region where its influence steeply diminished apparently for the replacement effect from Hinduism. There are, however, some similarities and differences between these two world religions. For example, Buddhism resembles Hinduism by accepting reincarnation but marks difference by rejecting the caste system. One mystery about Buddhism is its silence over the existence of God. Its followers therefore worship Buddha instead of God.
(3) Three Monotheisms: Presently, there are three monotheisms, namely Judaism, Christianity and Islam. All of them share common beliefs not only about one God but also about the chain of the prophets, the Dooms Day, the Day of Judgment and the Afterlife (Heaven and Hell) among others. We decide to cut off at this point in order to avoid repetition of discussions that follow.
(4) Some Minor Religions/Beliefs:
(i) Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion still maintaining its limited presence in Iran and parts of India. It is, however, facing declining membership (now below one-fifth of a million) due to intermarriage and adoption of foreign cultures. It originally looked like monotheism and envisioned the world as a struggle between the forces of good and evil. Later, it slid into the worship of sun, light or fire.
(ii) Sikhism and Jainism, both offshoots from Hinduism, are now two minority religions of India. Sikhism has greater following and more visible presence (with turban) than Jainism. Jainism is known for its opposition to killing of animals in general and its favored culture of eating vegetarian food.
(iii) Confucianism: Confucianism or teachings of the Chinese scholar Confucius, a contemporary of Buddha, is known to the historians as a human philosophy and not a religion. However, his model of 5 mutual responsible relations (between ruler-subject, husband-wife, father-son, elder-younger brother and friend-friend) influenced like a religion, leaving orderly impacts on the societies of China and its East Asian neighbors.
(iv) Shintoism/Animism: Worship of the spirits of the living beings (animals, trees etc.) and non-living objects (natural elements, dead souls etc.) is known as Shintoism in Japan and animism in Africa and elsewhere. Rituals like dance, candle lighting, sacrifice etc. are employed to please their gods such as sun god in order to gain benefits (e.g. sunshine for crops) and avoid harms (e.g. skin cancer) and so on.
Conclusion: The above discussion is simply an overview of selected aspects of some religions and not a complete picture of the world religions.