Compare and Contrast: Hinduism and Islam

Religion: Hinduism and Islam

Every society is based on different religion. Different people follow different types of religion according to their birth or by choice. The major religions of the world are Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Each religion is similar and different from one another in terms of festivals, practices and beliefs. Apart from Christianity, Hinduism and Islam are the two most widely practiced religions in the world today. They have their own traditions, beliefs and practices. These two religions are similar to some extent and differ in terms of the God they worship, religious text and the place where they offer their prayers.

The major difference between Hinduism and Islam is the God they worship. Hinduism is based on polytheism whereas Islam is based on monotheism. The different forms of gods that Hindus worship are Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwor, Ganesh, Laxmi, Saraswati, and Durga. Hindus worship these gods because each of these gods represents the creator, preserver, destroyer, first god, goddess of wealth, goddess of knowledge and goddess of victory respectively (WIKIPEDIA). Therefore, by offering prayers to each of these gods individually they believe they will be successful in these areas. On the other hand, Islamic people worship Allah. They believe that Allah is the creator of heaven and the earth. According to them Allah is the supreme being, and there is no one above Allah.

Likewise, both Hindus and Muslims have faith in their religious text. However, Hindus have numerous religious texts whereas Islam has only one. “Hinduism is based on the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times” (WIKIPEDIA). The different types of religious text that the Hindu religion believes in are The Vedas, The Mahabharat, The Ramayan, The Bhagwad Gita, and The Puranas. The Vedas is believed to be the earliest record of the religious text among the Hindus. Basically a number of these texts are stories about the lives of different gods during different times, but the Hindus go deeper than that and try to grasp the spiritual lesson they are trying to teach. For instance, “The Ramayan,” the story of Ram and Sita, and “The Mahabharat,” the story of the Kauravs and the Pandavs, are epic tales that teach people about the way of life a person should lead.

Conversely, Muslims have only one religious text called the Qur’an. It is considered literal undistorted word of god, and is regarded as God's final revelation to humankind and view it as the closest thing to a part of God in the world. Qur’an also talks about the relationship between God and his creatures and also about wisdom, doctrine, worship, and law (Understanding Islam and the Muslims). Besides that it teaches Muslims about the complete way of living their lives. It teaches discipline to be followed everyday which helps the Muslims to make their life easy. Although Hindus believe in many religious texts at the same time Muslims believe in only one text. Moreover, all of these texts try to teach their followers the same thing about the general way of living and about the general behavior and conduct expected from individuals at different times in their life.

Similarly, Hindus and Muslims differ in terms of the place where they offer their prayers.