Shirk in Hinduism
Hinduism is a group of religious traditions, established over a period of time, in the Indian subcontinent, in the pre-classical era through innumerable saints, seers, incarnations and emanations of God. Hinduism is henotheistic religion means that Hindus believe and worship of a single god while accepting the existence or possible existence of other deities. It contains various traditions such as Saivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism that are religions by themselves. In Hinduism personalities do not count as much as the divine law.
The main difference between Hinduism and Islam is the wide spread customs of Shirks in Hinduism. Allah says,
Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin. (Surat an Nisa: 48)
Shirk is happened in three broad categories (Philips):
- Shirk al-Ruboobiyyah
- Shirk al-Asma was Sifaat
- Shirk al-Uloohiyyah
1. Shirk al-Ruboobiyyah
Shirk al-Ruboobiyyah refers to the belief that others share Allah’s Lordship over creation as equal, near equal or partial or there is no Lord over creation. In Hinduism they do believe that there is Lord over creation who is Brahman. But world is controlled by his incarnations who have different authorities over world. The gods and goddesses belong to one large family of gods, headed by Supreme Brahman on one side as Purusha or Isvara and Para Shakti or Mother Goddess as His dependent or independent aspect on the other. (Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism)
a. Shirk by association
According to Hinduism, Brahma is the creator god. Vishnu he is considered as the preserver who is responsible for the preservation and maintenance of creation. And Shiva is considered as the destroyer god. This is clearly Shirk al-Ruboobiyyah. (Muhiyuddin)
Allah says,
Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is, over all things, Disposer of affairs. (Surat al-Zumar: 62)
Allah created you and that which you do?" (Surat al-Saaffaat: 96)
No disaster strikes except by permission of Allah. (Surat al-Taghaabun: 11)
b. Shirk by negation
In some sects of Hinduism contains pantheistic views that though god’s existence is claimed, the way he is conceived denies his existence. In their belief they say that everything is part of all-encompassing, immanent God and so they can worship literally everything from stone to human.
2. Shirk al-Asma was Sifaat
Shirk in this aspect happens by giving Allah’s attributes to the creation and also giving Allah creation’s attributes.
a. Shirk by humanization
Here Allah is given form and qualities of human or other creations. In Hinduism incarnations of God is very common idea which they call avatars. They believe that Vishnu has manifested upon earth as incarnations (avataras), manifestations (vyuhas), partial incarnations (amsavataras). (Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism)
The gods and goddess in Hinduism portrayed like humans who eat, drink, give birth babies, and have temptations like humans. From the myths, Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. we can see this clear humanization of their gods.
b. Shirk by deification
In this field it is very common practice among the Hindus to deify any human or thing which they thought have miraculous power. In history we see, when Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Shindh, people started to worship him because he saved them from tyrannous ruler.
Present day, when some player plays continuously well, some Hindu deify him. In India one can found many stones and trees which are deified and worshiped by local Hindus.
Allah says,
There is nothing like unto Him. (Surat al-Shura: 11)
3. Shirk al-Uloohiyyah
This is the biggest field of Shirk where worship is directed to others beside Allah as for seeking rewards from them or as a medium to ask supreme God. The Brahmanas, Kshatriya, Vaisyas, who formed the original divisions of Vedic Hindu society, worshipped their own classes of gods. Individually, when the Brahmanas performed sacrifices for themselves in the domestic rites etc. they made offerings to their own gods. But when they officiated for the sacrifices where the Kshatriyas and Vaisyas were patrons or hosts of sacrifices (yajamanas) they made offerings to the gods their patrons worshipped. Thus in the Vedas, invocations to numerous deities can be found. (Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism)
The Kshatriyas worshipped gods of kshatra power, namely Indra, Varuna, Soma, Rudra, Parjanya, Yama, and Isana. The Brahmanas worshipped gods of Sattvic nature, namely Agni and Surya and later Adityas, or aspects of the Sun, chief among whom were Savitr and later Vishnu.
The Vaisyas worshipped the gods of vis or commonality, namely Vasus, Rudras, Visvadevas and Maruts. The sudras worshipped, Pusan, an Aditya, and several local and village deities some of whom were outside the pale of Vedic tradition. (Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism)
I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. (Surat al-Dhaariyat: 56)
And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger, [saying], "Worship Allah and avoid false gods." (Surat al-Nahl: 36)
Indeed, those you [polytheists] call upon besides Allah are servants like you. So call upon them and let them respond to you, if you should be truthful. (Surat al-Araf: 194)
Though Hinduism is full of shirk in all its branches, its main holy book tells them to refrain shirk.
Of Him there are neither parents nor lord. [Svetasvatara Upanishad 6:9]
They are enveloped in darkness, in other words, are steeped in ignorance and sunk in the greatest depths of misery who worship the uncreated, eternal prakrti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, but those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time (Yajur Veda 40:9.)
Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures. [Bhagavad Gita 7:20]
But they don’t follow their scripture and follow the customs made by their priests and monks. To preach Islam, the true religion of Allah, their own scripture should be used to draw the similarities between us and them.
Shirk is the greatest offence a human being can done. In the course of time, Satan tried his best to insert shirks in every way of human life. As, one of the ancient religion and culture Hinduism is full with shirk. Allah sent His messengers to eliminate shirk from the face of earth. As we are the nation of the final messenger (pbuh), now it is our divine duty to save people from shirk. So, knowledgeable Muslims should research on other religions so that non Muslims can understand that is the real truth.
Bibliography
Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism. n.d. 11 June 2016. <http://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/pantheon.asp>.
Muhiyuddin, Mohammad Ali. A Comperative Study of the Religions of Today. n.d.
Philips, Bilal. The Fundamentals of Tawheed. n.d.
Muhiyuddin, Mohammad Ali. A Comperative Study of the Religions of Today. n.d.
Philips, Bilal. The Fundamentals of Tawheed. n.d.
© 2016 by Tauhid Ahmed.