When you believe that God is separate from you, you have the relationship of Master-slave or King-subject with God. You are then only called upon to express loyalty to God and your religion begins and ends with this testimony in this sort of believe. In effect, this leads to religion ending up as an activity of aggrandizement to establish political power for one’s own religion. When you believe that you and God are one, your religion becomes a journey of meditation to realize the God within oneself. External power does not interest you.In short, if you believe that God and you are one, then your religion is an individual affair between you and God. If you believe that God and you are separate, then your religion is political in nature. This is the difference between Hinduism and, say, Islam.
I think this is ill-founded and borders on plain ignorgance, with all due respect of course. You're effectively saying that Hinduism has never been political - this is wrong, I mean, the changing of Islamic 'Bombay' to the Hindi 'Mumbai' is a very simple but relevant example. And arn't the Tamils mostly Hindi? But obviously they don't represent Hinuism. Don't judge a religion by its practicioners. Politics and earthly ambitions can infect all religions.
Dear Winston Smith, Thank you for commenting on my little paragraph about Islam being political and Hinduism not. Islam cannot function ideally unless the Government is constituted under the laws of Shariat and the constitution is the Shariat. Therefore being political is the very nature of Islam. Islam does not believe in individual salvation. Whereas Hinduism has no goal other than individual salvation (or moksha, in Hindu parlance). Hinduism teaches the individual to discover his innate divinity. In Islam, speaking of discovering our divinity is taboo. Allah is outside us and we shall meet Him only to hear the verdict of eternal fire or eternal pleasure. As Jesus said, a tree is known by its fruits and similarly, a religion is known by its practitioners. Muslims (except Sufis) are intolerant of other faiths, whereas Hindus accept all faiths as ways to divinity. This difference is due to Islam teaching its adherents to be slaves of an intolerant Allah and Hinduism teaching its adherents to discover divinity within themselves.
Thank you for the respone. I shall don my debating hat now, because I feel you have been misinformed on Islam. Islam not only tolerates other religions, it validates their existance in a way uncommon to others (I cannot speak of Hinduism). As the Prophet himself said of pagans "Respect even their gods, or they won't respect yours" and in regard to conversion "there is no compulsion in faith". The first comment I think is an amazing example of tolerance. And of course there is the Surat Al-Kafiroon ('The unbelievers') in the Qu'ran which dictates: "Say to the the unbelievers; you will never believe what I believe and I will never believe what you believe and say to you your way, and to me mine" This, I hope demonstrates to you the tolerance of Islam and most Muslims. Also, I think Islam can function fine out of Sharia - think about the ammount of Muslims that live in nations sans sharia law - these even include countries that are mostly Muslim, like Turkey. Granted Islam does not have a complete focus on individual spirituality like Hinuism, but spirituality has its place within the religion. And in fact Islam does believe in individual salvation. One is answerable to his or her own deeds alone. Because Muslims are not guarenteed paradise - they must work for it, conversely it is said by the Muhammed that there will be non-muslims who achieve paradise. Kind regards WS
Dear Winston Smith,
I am sorry for this delayed reply. Actually I read your response sometime back but I had the dreaded writer's-block. Now I feel freed from the block and am having a go at responding to your interesting comments. All the verses you've quoted indeed prove that Islam is a religion of peace and understanding. But I must point out that there are many oft-quoted verses that call upon slaying of disbelievers or promising them hell-fire. Such verses must surely be an interpolation to the peaceful spirit of Islam. Alas, there is no scope for editing the Quran. So Islam is stuck with such verses also.
About communities being well-off without the Shariat, this logic could be extended to point to communities who are well-off without the Quran itself. The point is, the Quran includes the Shariat and because it needs to be implemented upon society, it requires a 'government' for the purpose. In the absence of such a government, Quran is not implemented fully and thereby Islam is not practiced completely.
Just this much. Too much at one time would be biting more than we can chew!
I am sorry for this delayed reply. Actually I read your response sometime back but I had the dreaded writer's-block. Now I feel freed from the block and am having a go at responding to your interesting comments. All the verses you've quoted indeed prove that Islam is a religion of peace and understanding. But I must point out that there are many oft-quoted verses that call upon slaying of disbelievers or promising them hell-fire. Such verses must surely be an interpolation to the peaceful spirit of Islam. Alas, there is no scope for editing the Quran. So Islam is stuck with such verses also.
About communities being well-off without the Shariat, this logic could be extended to point to communities who are well-off without the Quran itself. The point is, the Quran includes the Shariat and because it needs to be implemented upon society, it requires a 'government' for the purpose. In the absence of such a government, Quran is not implemented fully and thereby Islam is not practiced completely.
Just this much. Too much at one time would be biting more than we can chew!
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