On the face of it Islam and Hinduism seem to be the most diametrically opposed of the world religions. But once we penetrate to the core fundamentals we will find astounding similarities and shared beliefs. The purpose of the paper is to identify the fundamentals and unveil the underlying affinities. Two characteristics will be taken into consideration, and these are sacred scripture and cosmology. Each investigation begins with the manifest and accepted contrasts, and then tries to uncover the hidden fundamental convergence. Literary criticism and sociology will be used to judge the sacred scriptures and an analytical approach will be taken towards cosmology.
The sacred scriptures of Islam are the Koran and the Hadith collections. The Koran is considered to be the final revelation of God to mankind, mediated through the messenger-ship of the Prophet Muhammad. The Hadith is a collection of the sayings and the activities of the Prophet Muhammad, used as a secondary source to the Koran of determining custom and jurisprudence. For all practical purposes these are the only sacred scriptures in Islam. But in the Koran it is mentioned that 104 are the prophetic scriptures (revelations of God to man), and only the final four are mentioned explicitly by name. These are Tawrat (the Torah, or the first five books of the Old Testament), Zabur (the psalms of David, part of the Old Testament), Injil (the New Testament) and the Koran. Moslems, however, pay no heed to any of the prophetic scriptures before the Koran, judging them to be altered and corrupted in all their surviving versions (Hughes, 475). Jews and Christians are considered infidels for not accepting the final messenger-ship of Muhammad, even though they occupy a more favorable position to the other infidels as being ahle kitaab – “the brethren of the book”, i.e. they have been communicated by God through prophetic scripture, whereas the others are considered not to have received God’s words of guidance.
The Veda is considered the fundamental scripture for the Hindus. It is divided into four parts – Riga, Sama, Yajur and Atharva Vedas. The verses of the Veda are thought to be words of God as inspired in the ancient rishis – holy men. God is depicted in many guises – 33 is the reckoning from authoritative sources. In each guise there is a different aspect emphasized. Thus Brahma, the Creator, is a distant and impassive devata, emphasizing the transcendental aspect of the Creator. Vishnu, the sustainer, is characterized by pervasiveness and the present time. Most proximate to created beings is Shiva, the destroyer, who both creates and destroys all phenomenon. These are the three prominent devatas, around which the other 30 revolve. Each verse of the Veda has associated with it one devata, along with the name of the rishi in whom it is inspired. Next in importance are the Upanishads, 108 in number. Each is a lengthy commentary on the verses of the Veda, composed by the rishis of a more proximate date. The Veda and the Upanishads comprise the sruti sacred texts, a name that describes their more immediately divine origin. Beyond the priestly class of the Brahmins the smriti texts have greater currency. Among the wider populace the Puranas are respected and followed. They are “histories”, though largely mythological in nature. The Puranas together constitute a vast body of scripture, and this is the main source of the notions and rituals that constitute the more popular forms of Hinduism. Next in the order of sacredness are two monumental works of literature. Ramayana is composed by the poet Valmiki, and described the exploits of the celebrated hero Ram. Authored by Vyasa, the Mahabharata depicts the closing of the Dwapar age and the commencement of Kalayuga, the present age of darkness. In the confluence of the ages there is a worldwide conflict that demolishes the previous world order and wipes out almost all its inhabitants. Literature weaves history and myth in this epic poem and elevates it to the sacred plane. A chapter in this vast poem is known separately as the Bhagavad-Gita, a sublime expression of the mystery of life, reincarnation and religious duty. Many Hindus consider this to be the most sacred text of all (Fowler, 13-15).
It is generally accepted that the Koran is a prophetic scripture whereas the Hindu scriptures are not. Most Hindus would not object to this assessment, because they are very little involved in the Veda and the Upanishads, and mostly immersed in the Puranas, the Ramayana, or the Bhagavad-Gita. By its very definition the Veda is a prophetic tome. It has many prophets, the rishis, through whom the words of god are communicated to us. The central message is the oneness of God, and the various devatas are mere manifestations of Him. Indeed it is mentioned in the Yajur Veda, “Of God there is no representation” (Chap. 32, verse 3). And further along it is mentioned, “They are entering darkness those who worship the natural things” (Chap. 40, verse 9). This is in stark contrast to the way Hindus are seen conducting prayer today, which necessarily involves a statue or picture representation of God as focus. The learned Hindu acknowledged the disparity and offers the excuse that the ordinary devout require a tangible focus for their devotion, for the unrepresented is hard to picture, and without a picture their devotion fails to concentrate. He must cross over to a higher plane of spiritual development before he can learn to discard his idols and worship God as the transcendental unity. This is tantamount to conceding that the majority part of Hindu religion is nothing other than a corruption of Vedic religion. And once the fundamentals are re-established then the Hindu scriptures will be seen to be prophetic in nature, just as the Koran is, and being the revealed message of the one God. It is also easy to picture how the various manifestation of the one God crystallized, though the passage of time, into pictorially representative gods, the pantheon of which consists of 33.
Idolatry is condemned in the Koran, just as it in the Veda, in fact manifold times. This makes the bigots is Islam dismiss anything to do with the Hindus before the least examination, so that the Veda and the Vedic religion evades their scrutiny completely. They forget that it is told in the Koran that there is no community on earth that has not received the guidance of God: “To every people (was sent) an apostle.” (Quran, 10:47). But certain factions among the Moslems have indeed come across the remarkable affinity between the message of Koran on the one hand and the Vedas and the Upanishads on the other. The Moghul prince Dara Shikoh became totally engrossed in the Vedic scriptures when he noticed the similarities, and wrote numerous tracts to publicize his findings, only to earn the wrath of his own kind, and was murdered by his younger brother, and eventual Moghul emperor Aurangazeb. However the real building of bridges between the two streams was undertaken by the mystics of both sides, who converge towards the religion of Bauls, mendicants who roam the plains to sing the mysteries of Creation within the meters of both the religions.
Now we turn to the cosmologies of both these religions. The Koran says that the earth was created as a testing ground for humans. The proto-type of man was created in heaven, from common clay, and God then commanded the angels and the jinns to bow down before the supreme of all Creation. They all did so, except for the jinn Iblis, who was haughty and proclaimed that he, as a creature of fire, would not bow down to one made from common clay. At this defiance the world came into being, the handiwork of God in six days, and man suffers the temptations of Iblis in his sojourn through a mortal lifespan. The reward for one who resists the temptations, and leads a life devoted to God, is an abode in paradise in the afterlife – jannat. Those that take the way of Iblis are fated for jahannam – hell. Both heaven and hell are described as stratified in seven layers, jannatul ferdous being the highest strata of heaven, and habiya dozakh being the lowest point of hell. There are innumerable angels that overlook the running of Creation at the constant behest of God (Farah, 112-118).
At the center of Hindu cosmology is the concept of reincarnation. The total account of one’s moral life is one’s karma. The fruit of good karma is ascendancy in one’s status in the afterlife. Thus, one is reincarnated, but in a higher order of being. The universe is populated with all orders of being, with a gradation from the lowliest worm to the highest order which is that of man. Among men the mlecchas are below those of proper caste, and are considered untouchable to those of proper caste – varna. Even with those of varna there is a gradation from the lowliest Shudra to the highest Brahmin. With good karma one is able to ascend this order of being in the afterlife, and this is the reward of karma. Conversely with bad karma one is punished by dying and descending to a lowlier state. But the highest attainment of all is moksha – the release from the cycle of life and death in the phenomenal world. In this state one has attained swarga – paradise. Narak – hell – is thought to lie this side of moksha, thus in the material world. The Hindu adepts will explain narak as the degrading depths of materialism (Fowler, 7-12).
There are remarkable similarities in the two cosmologies described above, and I specially point how the Moslem stratification of heaven and hell resembles the Hindu stratification of the order of living beings. Perceived differences are wide enough for the average Moslem not to connect with the average Hindu, and vice versa. But there needs to be a crucial correction made to the Hindu cosmology above. The Moslem cosmology, as described above, is from the Koran. But the Hindu one is not Vedic. Reincarnation is not mentioned in the Veda, neither is the gradations of life forms, except for the crucial distinction made that man is above all other life forms. Swarga and narak – heaven and hell – are mentioned in the Veda, as well as karma. But the fruits of karma are said to be swarga (Naik, Similarities). Therefore, the cosmology described in the Veda is not dissimilar to that described in the Koran.
Despite the fundamental similarities between Islam and Hinduism that research unveils, the interaction between the communities of Moslems and Hindus has been fractious and uncompromising throughout history. This is not only due to the fact that each community refuses to examine the other, but also because they refuse to examine themselves. With the modernist tendencies that come from the West the traditional barriers between the two communities are coming down somewhat, so that high caste Hindus are able to work together with Moslems, and do not consider them to be untouchable, as did their forebears. Nor do the educated Moslem youth of today simmer with hatred when seeing Hindus performing what they deem to be rank idol-worship. But these are not true compromises, as they are result of dilution of religion rather than mutual understanding. Designing a secular society with the motive of economic growth, after the model of the West, is merely a lull in the battle. Neither is mass education the answer, for it fails to convey the subtle truths of religion (the profound mind sees, but the broader public fails to see beyond the caricature).
Interaction between the two faiths has and is taking place, which is among the mystics of both religions. The Mogul prince Dara Shikoh studied Sanskrit in order to read the Vedas and the Upanishads, whereby he came to discover the crucial affinity between the Veda and the Koran. He translated many of the Upanishads, published as Sirr-I-Akbar, and wrote profusely about the hidden links between the two faiths (Raghavan, xiv). He is eager to point out that the Vedas and the Upanishads are teaching monotheism, and that they are ‘in conformity with the Holy Qur’an and a commentary thereon’ (Sikand). But the writings of Dara Shikoh languish in obscurity today, and his heroic effort has come to nothing. He merely drew an avalanche of bigotry from both communities, and ended up being murdered at the hand of his younger brother, Aurangazeb. The mystic saints, on the other hand, were aware of the hidden links well before the Mogul times. Hazrat Moinuddin Chisti, the Sufi saint, is thought to be one of the first to preach Islam on Indian soil. His tomb in Ajmer, in Rajastan, is today holy shrine for Moslem pilgrims, but it is equally the destination of many Hindu pilgrims, a fact that confuses the Moslem visitors. The Sufi saints were able to cross the barriers between the two faiths, and they did so with inner sight, and not with encyclopedic knowledge of Sanskrit and Arabic. If Moslems and Hindus have lived in harmony for centuries it is only due to the common veneration held by the mystics in both camps – the Sufi saints and Vaisnob mendicants. The Bauls who are prominent over the plains of Bengal sing odes to the higher truths that bind Moslem and Hindu.
Case 1
Dinesh Rajanathan is a Tamil Hindu from Sri Lanka, now exiled in London. He is posted in the Civil Service, but also studies part time as a mature student towards a CIMA qualification in Accounting. As a political exile he is separated from his family in Sri Lanka for nearly eight years, and he aspires to bring his children to London for their higher studies. He describes himself as a practicing Hindu, though not overly devout. In a corner of his room in a bed-sit in Streatham he keeps a garlanded picture of Ganesha, the ishta devata – i.e. the home deity traditionally worshipped in his family. He means to spend a silent minute of two in front of the picture at least once every day, but the pressures of work and study make him miss out on most occasions. His faith keeps him going through the trauma of his separation from family, he claims.
The Sinhalese oppression of the minority Tamils in Sri Lanka occupies him far more than religious concerns, and he is more intent of relating how Tamils struggle to find jobs under Sinhalese rule. A strict vegetarian, he is attentive to karma in his daily life. He tries to be honest and fair in his dealing with people, but this doesn’t assuage his warlike attitude towards the Sinhalese. “The Bhagavad-Gita teaches war as a duty,” he points out. “Krishna tells Arjuna that it is a duty to fight the enemy. Most Westerners think the Hindus are pacifists. Because we’re vegetarians, and we won’t harm fellow creatures, so we will never maim a fellow human being. In fact most Hindus are like that, like most of those in India. But that doesn’t mean that they are pacifist. They are just indifferent and cowardly.”
The Bhagavad-Gita is the most important text in the eyes of Mr. Rajanathan. “It is the most beautiful poem ever composed. All the mysteries of life are found there, and all our duties we come to know are from there.” He acknowledges the primacy of the Vedas, but he describes it as remote and only for the acharyas (the adepts). The Rajanathans are of the Kshatriya caste. In his reincarnation Mr. Rajanathan pictures himself as born into the Brahmin caste. But caste in not the overriding issue for Hindus anymore, he claims. “We don’t think of caste that much. Here in London I mingle with everybody – nobody is untouchable. Reincarnation now means being born into a better life. Most Hindus will tell you that.”
Case 2
Tanvir Akhtar is a studying Computer Science in the University of South London, and works part time as a telephonist. He is from Pakistan as describes himself as a devout Moslem. “It is not possible to pray five times a day as working student in London,” he says, but he tries his best and always catches up with his prayers at home. Otherwise very orthodox in his attitudes, his coming to London has opened his eyes to one shortcoming in the traditional way. “We must study the Koran for ourselves and not listen blindly to what the Mawlanas tell us,” he now opines. “Ten mullahs tell us ten things, and we get confused. We must go to the Koran directly and learn from there.”
The differences that Tanvir describes are strictly regarding rituals and the attitudes taken towards other faiths. Cosmology and scripture are not disputed among the Moslems, he avows. “All Moslems know that the Koran is the final and uncorrupted word of God. Nobody can add anything to the word of God.” He is well aware of the defiance of Iblis, the creation of the material world, temptation, heaven and hell. “These are told in the Koran many times. If anyone denies them they are not Moslem. But still Iblis manages to win over people. As Moslems we must be vigilant, and we must try always to remember Allah.”
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