[Note: This article is not for insulting the Hindu people, but only to differenciate the Islamic point of view from Indian Philosophy. The Hindu people often prefers to see Islam in the angle of their theology and thus they try to explain Islam from their own perception. So, here we want to present the correct Islamic point of view by giving a brief response from our side. May peace be on you all.]
In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful. We testify that there is no god but Allah and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the servant and last messenger of Almighty Allah.
The Hindu people claim Hinduism as "Sanatan Dharma" which means a faith and a way of life which is everlasting. From our Islamic point of view, we consider it as a way of misguidance and to guide the people from misguidance to the right way, Allah the Almighty has sent different messengers from the beginning of the Creation. For this reason, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is not the founder of any new religion like "Muhammedanism", but he is the last messenger of the same faith which is "submission of our will to the One True Creator" and in Arabic it can be translated as "Islam".
So, if Hinduism or Sanatan Dharma is the oldest faith, then from our point of view, Islam is the correction of such corrupted way of life.
For this reason, there are many points which can be analysed to show Islam clearly before the Hindu people. But for the easy understanding of truth, we are only trying to talk about a few points below.
=> Who is the Ultimate Creator in Hinduism???:
Swami Vivekananda did not believe in the Concept of any Ultimate Creator. Why would he believe? Hinduism has no such concept of any "Ultimate One True Creator".
Let's have a look of what Vivekananda says,
"....if they are all created, why does a just and merciful God create one happy and another unhappy, why is He so partial? Nor would it mend matters in the least to hold that those who are miserable in this life will be happy in a future one. Why should a man be miserable even here in the reign of a just and merciful God?
In the second place, **the idea of a creator God does not explain the anomaly**, but simply expresses the cruel fiat of an all-powerful being...."[1]
We are giving a little bit more that why there is no Ultimate Creator in Hinduism.
According to Vedic Religion or Hinduism, God is considered as “Param Atma”(The Supreme Soul) Who made everything from His own body.
“He(the divine Self-existence or God), desiring to produce beings of many kinds from his own body….”[2]
(Manusmriti or Manu-Samhita, 01:08)
"...He(The Supreme Person) is present in His abode, He is all-pervading, and everything is situated within Him."[3]
(Bhagabat Gita, 8:22)
"And when you have thus learned the truth, you will know that all living beings are but part of Me—and that they are in Me, and are Mine."[4]
(Bhagabat Gita, 4:35)
In the Purport of Bhagabat Gita, 4:35, Swami Prabhupada says,
"The result of receiving knowledge from a self-realized soul, or one who knows things as they are, is learning that **all living beings are parts and parcels of the Supreme Personality of Godhead**...."[5]
So according to Hinduism, the universe is actually a transformation of the portion of Param Atma or Supreme Person or God.
According to physics, the sum total of matter and energy is fixed. It can not be created or destroyed, just can be transformed from one to another form.
Now if a chair is made of wood of a tree, then the chair is actually a transformation of the wood of the tree, it is not actually a new creation in the universe. Here wood is raw material and chair is a new product, but both the elements or the matter of chair or wood is fixed. So making a chair is not actually a new creation.
Similarly, if Purusa or Param Atma or God makes the universe by transforming His own portion, then it will also not be considered as a new creation. Here like the wood of the chair, we can also consider the "Purusa" or "Param Atma" or "God" just as raw material, not any Creator.
So it is very clear that Hinduism fails to say about the Ultimate Creator. Though one may call God as "Siva", " Krishna", "Bhagwan", " Param Atma" etc, from Islamic point of view, there is no description of Actual Creator in Hinduism.
"Yet have they taken, besides Him(Allah), gods that can create nothing but are themselves created; that have no control of hurt or good to themselves; nor can they control death nor life nor resurrection."[6]
(The Noble Quran, 25:03)
=> Quran is responding to Vedic Philosophy.....
**Vedic Claim**:
Vedic Philosophy presents that we wrongly consider this creation as true whereas such thinking is our illusion. The universe is nothing but the part and parcel of God and so we are not seperate from the Supreme Power. But because of our ignorance, we can not understand that we are the eternal souls, not the damagable bodies and all the eternal existence inside us are really 'One' because all are the same manifestation of One God. Therefore, one needs to do struggle in the path of discovering his own true nature by proper ways of meditation. This is the way of "Moksha" which is very close to Buddhism's "Nirvana" concept and the concept of Sufism. From here, Vedic Philosophy is concluding that all the groups are enlightened by the light of Vedic knowledge and are actually searching for the ultimate reality. Therefore, the sinners are not actually sinners, but they are ignorant not knowing their true nature. Hence from it, Vedic concept is tolerating monotheism, pantheism, panentheism, trinity, atheism, agnosticism and so on.
Vivekananda in his Chicago speech concluded all these things by one quotation:[7]
"We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true..........
I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings:
“As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.""[8]
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Response:
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Quran is responding the Vedic philosophy very clearly.
=> Nothing is the portion or manifestation of God, but Allah - the only true Creator creates out of nothing; because Allah does not tranform His portion to make the Creation, Allah creates absolutely new from nothing.
"But does not man call to mind that We created him before out of nothing?"[9]
(The Noble Quran, 19:67)
"(He is the) Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He decides a matter, He simply says to it: “Be”, and it comes to be."[10]
(The Noble Quran, 2:117)
"He(Allah) to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: no son has He begotten, nor has He a partner in His dominion: it is He who created all things, and ordered them in due proportions.
Yet have they taken, besides Him, gods that can create nothing but are themselves created; that have no control of hurt or good to themselves; nor can they control death nor life nor resurrection."[11]
(The Noble Quran, 25:02-03)
=> Quran declares that it is GOD Almighty(Allah) Who is not comparable with anything in the universe.
"And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him."[12]
(The Noble Quran, 112:04)
So, once you say, this world that we see is actually an illusion as it is the part or manifestation of God, then Quran is declaring that it is a lie as Allah the Almighty does not manifest or make anything from His own body.
=> When you say, our 'Inside Existence' is eternal and so you are not the body but the soul which is not seperate from the Supreme Power, then Quran is responding that only Allah is eternal and He is not any soul or Supreme soul, rather He is the Ultimate Creator of all souls and everything. And so, Allah can destroy even the souls also (if Allah wills) which He has created.
"All that exists on the earth shall perish. Only your Lord, possessed of majesty and honor, shall endure forever."[13]
(The Noble Quran, 55:26-27)
=> Therefore, Quran considers such type of concept as a way of falsehood and insult to Almighty Allah.
"He(Allah) knows what is hidden and what is open: too high is He for the partners they attribute to Him!"[14]
(The Noble Quran, 23:92)
"If there were, in the heavens and the earth, other gods besides Allah, there would have been confusion in both! but glory to Allah, the Lord of the Throne: [High is He] above what they attribute to Him"[15]
(The Noble Quran, 21:22)
=> So, Quran is announcing that such concepts which are claimed to be from God are corrupted and therefore should be rejected.
"So woe to those who write the "scripture" with their own hands, then say, "This is from Allah ," in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn."[16]
(The Noble Quran, 2:79)
=> From here, Quran from its very strong statement is replying that Islamic monotheism which is free from all kinds of comparison of the Creator with the creation is the only acceptable way to Almighty God and therefore other corrupted concepts are the ways of confusion and misguidance.
"Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam(submission to His will). And those who were given the Scripture did not differ except after knowledge had come to them - out of jealous animosity between themselves. And whoever disbelieves in the verses of Allah, then indeed, Allah is swift in [taking] account."[17]
(The Noble Quran, 3:19)
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Reference:
[1] Complete Works of Vivekananda, Volume 1/Addresses at The Parliament of Religions/Paper on Hinduism;
source: http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_1/addresses_at_the_parliament/v1_c1_paper_on_hinduism.htm
[2] The Laws of Manu, translated by George Bühler;
source: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/manu/manu01.htm
[3] 'Bhagavad Gita As It Is' by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON
[4] 'Bhagavad Gita As It Is' by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON
[5] Purport of Bhagabat Gita, 4:35 by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON;
source: https://asitis.com/4/35.html
[6] Translation of 'The Holy Qur'an' by Abdullah Yusuf Ali
[7] There are differences in explanation among various sects of Hinduism. For example, the Ramakrishna Mission by their "Mayavadi" concept suggests that all types of path are acceptable for salvation; while the ISKCON by their Vaishnava concept rejects such view saying that only the devotion to Krishna is the way for salvation. However, it is common for all sects and majority of the Hindu people that they are the most tolerant people in the world towards other religious and non-religious groups(i.e groups of agnostic or atheist people) as per their claim. For this reason, we have chosen the "Mayavadi" concept with the commentary of Indian Scholar Swami Vivekananda who considered that every religion is true.
[8] Complete Works of Vivekananda, Volume 1/Addresses at The Parliament of Religions/Response to Welcome;
source: http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_1/addresses_at_the_parliament/v1_c1_response_to_welcome.htm
[9] Translation of 'The Holy Qur'an' by Abdullah Yusuf Ali
[10] Translation of Quran by Shaykh Mufti Taqi Usmani
[11] Translation of 'The Holy Qur'an' by Abdullah Yusuf Ali
[12] The Noble Qur'an English Translation by Hilali and Khan
[13] English translation of Al-Quran, 55:26-27; taken from "Tafhim al-Qur'an - The Meaning of the Qur'an" by Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi
[14] Translation of 'The Holy Qur'an' by Abdullah Yusuf Ali
[15] Translation of 'The Holy Qur'an' by Abdullah Yusuf Ali
[16] Saheeh International Translation of Al-Quran
[17] Saheeh International Translation of Al-Quran
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