Comparison between the Hindu religion and the Islamic religion

Islamic is from western religion as compared to Hindu religion, these bring certain differences between the two religions, below are some comparison between the two religions:

Differences

  • Hinduism is the way of living among the Hindu people in the Indian subcontinent and also those Indians in the diaspora while Islam is a monotheistic religion, with their one God, Allah. Their last prophet being Muhammad whose believed to have delivered the Islamic scripture, the Quran.
  •  Hindu religion shares common terms with Dharmic religions, these include; Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism while Islamic religion shares common terms with the Abrahamic religions, these include Judaism, Christianity among others.
  • Hindu religion has scriptures referred to as Vedas or Shrutis.
    Vedas or Shrutis is made up of four, which include:
    • The original Vedic hymns or Samhitas
    • Brahmanas
    • Aranyakas
    • Upanishads
      Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads are the three tiers of commentaries upon the Samhitas. The Hindu religion is also based on the Smritis, which includes the Ramayana, the Bhagavad Gita and the Puranas which are equally sacred among the Hindus.
      On the other hand, the Islamic religion has Qur’an and Hadiths as their primary scriptures, used in administering sermons.
  • Hindu religion believes in varied traditions. Upanishads commonly interpreted as the Advaita Vedanta tradition, this tradition is done by an individual. It involves a person finding the truth on realizing his/her pure soul, this is called atman, a person who is ignorant of finding his/her ultimate reality as Braham. On most occasions before the person realizes the truth, he/she is usually ignorant and experiences the illusion, this is referred to as Maya.
    On the other hand, Islamic is a religion that believes in monotheism called Tawhid. Muslims affirm, “There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the messenger of Allah” daily as one of the five pillars of their religion, in shahada.
  • The scriptures of Muslims states that Muhammad was the last messenger and the Quran was the last revelation of God through His messenger, Muhammad. Whereas the hadiths contain the story on Muhammad’s life, sayings, and the His general way of living that Muslims should follow. The Quran and hadiths are the sources of laws that guide Muslims.
    On the other hand, Hindus have no centralized religious authorities, no prophets, nor any binding holy book from God. Shruti is the text containing spiritual believes and customs among the Hindus.

 Similarities

  • Both Hindus and Muslims do not wear shoes on entering their sacred places of worship i.e. to the temple and mosque.
  • The act of lending money or giving money on interest is not approved in both religions, it’s considered a bad practice.
  •  Hindu religion worships many gods of different seasons and has faith in different saints, these are similar to the Islamic religion since Muslims go to various dargahs and also have faith in different saints.
  • In the Hindu religion, polygamy was considered valid, Hindus used to marry more than one person, but in the recent Hindu law polygamy is discouraged, while in the Islamic religion, polygamy is permitted, and a person has the right to marry up to four wives.
  • Muslims practice the art of Hijab, this is the covering of the face. Among the Hindu community, the practice of covering only the face was prevalent in the past, and the practice is still done by few Hindus in recent times.
  • Both Muslims and Hindus have the ritual of sacred and observe fast for a whole month. Among the Muslims, its referred to as the month of Ramzan while among the Hindu people it’s called the month of Shravana.   
  • Vedas among the Hindu people prohibits the worship of idol which is also not allowed among the Islamic religion.
  • The Muslims have prayer beads that are similar to the Hindu Jap Mala.