C O N C E P T O F G O D I N M A J O R R E L I G I O N S

b y D r . Z k i r A b d u l K a r i m N a i k

I n T h e N a m e O f A l l a h , T h e M o s t M e r c i f u l T h e M o s t

B e n e f i c e n t

GROUP MEMBERS

• Sameer Ahmed 13-ME-411

• Arslan Rahat 13-ME-419

• Sajid Hussain 13-ME-416

• Muhammad Kabeer 13-ME-422

• Ahsan Mahmood 13-ME-424

C A T E G O R I S A T I O N O F M A J O R W O R L D R E L I G I O N S

• Religions of the world can be divided into major categories:

• a) Semitic Religions

• b) Non semitic Religions

S E M I T I C R E L I G I O N S

• The religions that originated among Semites are known as Semitic religions.

• According to the Bible, Prophet Noah (PBUH) had a son called Shem. The descendents of Shem are known as Semites.

• Prophetic religions.

• Major Semitic religions are Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

N O N S E M I T I C R E L I G I O N S

• The non-Semitic religions are further subdivided into two major categories:

• a) Aryan Religions

• b) Non- Aryan Religions

A R Y A N R E L I G I O N S

• Aryan religions are the religions that originated among the Aryans.

• Aryans was a powerful group of Indo-European speaking people that spread through Iran and Northern India from 1500 to 2000 BC.

• Hinduism or Brahminism, Sikhism, Buddhism, etc.

• Non-Prophetic religions.

• Zoroastrianism is an Aryan Religion that claims to be a prophetic religion.

N O N A R YA N R E L I G I O N S

• The non-Aryan religions have diverse origins.

• Confucianism and Taoism are of Chinese origin while Shintoism is of Japanese origin.

• Many of these non-Aryan religions do not have a concept of God.

• They are better referred to as ethical systems rather than as religions.

C O N C E P T O F G O D I N H I N D U I S M

• The most popular among the Aryan religions is Hinduism.

• Hindu is actually a Persian word which stands for the inhabitants of the region beyond the Indus Valley.

• In common language Hinduism is a comprehensive term for a variety of religious beliefs, most of whom are based on the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Bhagwad Geeta.

C O M M O N C O N C E P T

• Hinduism is commonly perceived as a polytheistic religion. Indeed, most Hindus would attest to this, by claiming in a multitude of Gods.

• Some Hindus believe in the system of three God while Some Hindus actually believe in the existence of thirty-three crore i.e. 330 million Gods.

• Learned Hindus who are well aware of their scriptures ( sacred books) insist that a Hindu should believe in and worship only one God.

PA N T H E I S M

• Pantheism considers everything, living and non-living to be divine and sacred. The Hindus therefore consider the trees, the sun, the moon, the animals and even the human beings as manifestations of God. For the common Hindu, everything is God.

• The major difference between the Hindu and the Muslim perception of God is the common Hindus belief in the philosophy of Pantheism.

• Islam, exhorts man to consider himself and his surroundings as examples of divine creation rather than as divinity itself.

• Muslims therefore believe that everything is God's i.e. God with an apostrophe s. In other words we believe that everything belongs to God. The trees, the Sun , the Moon and everything in this (Universe belong to God).

• Thus the major difference between the Hindu and the Muslim beliefs is difference of the apostrophe s. The Hindus says everything is God. The Muslim says everything is God's.

• The Holy Quran says :

• "Come to common terms as between us and you.The first common term is that we worship none but Allah".

• The first common term is "that we worship none but Allah".

U PA N I S H A D S

• The upanishads are considered sacred scriptures by the Hindus. Consider the following verses from the Upanishads :

• "He is One only without a second" [Chandogya Upanishad 6:2:1]

• "Of Him there are neither parents nor Lord". [SvetasavataraUpanishad 6,9] [ part II page 263.]

• Compare the above verses with the following verses of the Holy Quran

• And there is none like unto Him. [Holy Quran , 112:4]

• There is nothing whatever like unto Him.[Holy Quran ,42:11]

T H E V E D A S

• Vedas are considered the most sacred amongst all the Hindu scriptures. There are 4 main vedas.

• 1. Yajur Ved

• i) Consider the following verses from the Yajur ved :

• as He is unborn, He deserves our worship. [The Yajurveda by Devi Chand M. A. pg 377]

R I G - V E D A

• ) The oldest of all the vedas is Rig veda. It is also the one considered most sacred by the Hindus. The Rig Veda states that "Sages (learned Priests) call one God by many names".[Rigveda 1:164:46)]

• ii) The Rigveda gives no less than 33 different attributes to Almighty God, Many of these are mentioned in Rigveda Book 2

• Amongst the various attributes given in Rigveda, one of the beautiful attributes! Mentioned in Rigveda Subh II verse 3 for Almighty God is Brahma. Brahma means The Creator. Translated into Arabic this word it means Khaliq. Muslims can have no objection if Almighty God is referred to as Khaliq or Creator or Brahma. However Muslims definitely do not subscribe to the view that Brahma is Almighty God who has four heads (nauzubillah), Muslims are strongly against it. Again, Muslims can have no objection if Almighty God is referred to as Rabb or Sustainer or Vishnu.

B H A G W A D G E E T A

• The most popular among all the Hindu scriptures is the BhagwadGeeta. Consider the following verse from the Geeta :

• 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.

• [Bhagwad Geeta chapter 7 verse 20 (B.G. 7:20)]

• The Geeta is referring to people who are materialistic and therefore worship demigods i.e. besides the True God.

C O N C L U S I O N

• The concept of God adopted by a religion cannot be judged by merely observing the practice of its followers.

• It is quite common for the followers of many religions to be ignorant of the concept of God in their scriptures.

• It is therefore better to analyse the concept of God in any religion by referring to its holy scriptures.

The concept of oneness of God in

Zoroastrianism

History

• Zoroastrianism is an ancient Aryan religion.

• It has few followers.

• It is one of the oldest religions.

Founder

• The Iranian prophet zoroaster was the founder of zoroastrianism.

• It is commonly known as parsiism.

God according to zoroastrians

• They believe that there is one universal supreme God.

• They call God Ahura mazda.

• Ahura means the god or the lord.

• And mazda means the wise.

Vision of zoroaster

• Zoroaster went into a diatri river.

• He received a vision of vohu monah.

• After meeting voha monah, he believed one worship of God.

Sacred Books

• The sacred books of the parsis icludes the Dasatir and Avesta.

According to Dasatir• He is one.

• Nothing resembles him.

• He is without origin or end.

• He has no mother, father, wife or son.

• He is without body.

• Neither the eyecan behold him, nor the power of thinking can conceive him.

• He is above all that you can imagine of.

• He is nearer to you than your ownself.

According to Avesta

• Creator

• Most mighty, The greatest.

• Beneficient, Hudai.

• Bountiful, Spenta

Importance of water and fire

• Water and fire are life for them.

• They usually pray in the presense of some form of fire.

• Fire is consider as medium to get wisdom.

• Water is consider source of that wisdom.

Contradiction with Islam

• The concept of active participation of life throuh good deeds and to keep choas at bay.

• The concept of monoasticism.

• But in Islam, there are few rules and regulation.

Quranic Verses

لعشیر بئس المولی و لبئس ایدعوا لمن ضرہ اقرب من نفعہ ل •﴿۱۳﴾

نقصان کی ( ۳۶ف)ایسے کو پوجتے ہیں جس کے نفع سے •کیا ہی برا مولی اور ( ۳۸ف)بیشک ( ۳۷ف)توقع زیادہ ہے

بیشک کیا ہی برا رفیق

•They worship such that whose harm is more expected than his benefit. No doubt, what an evil patron and no doubt what an evil comrade!

• e also: Western Perceptions of Zoroastrianism

• Farvahar. Persepolis, Iran.

J U D A I S M

• "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord"

• (The Bible, Deut 6:4)

• "I am God, and there is none else;

• I am God, and there is none like me."

• ( The Bible, 46:9)

• " And Jews say Uzair (A.S.) is the son of Allah"

T H E C O N C E P T O F G O D I N C H R I S T I A N I T Y

C O N C E P T O F G O D I N C H R I S T I A N I T Y

• What is Christianity?

• It is based on the life and oral teachings of Jesus

• Belief of Trinity.

• It is to believe in three gods, i.e. Jesus, His mother and His father.

• The most divine book of Christians is Bible.

• Christians believe that Christ is god but he himself did not claim to be a god in his life.

• Indeed there is not even a single sentence in the Bible who supports this belief.

• According to the Bible, the statement attributed to the Jesus Christ (PBUH),

• I cast out devils with the spirit of God. ( Mathew 12:28 )

• .....with the finger of God cast out devils....(Luke 11:20 )

M I S S I O N O F J E S U S

• "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy but to fulfill". (The Bible, Mathew )

G O D S E N T J E S U S ( P B U H )

• Bible mentions the prophetic nature of Jesus mission in the following verses.

• "And this life is eternal that they might know the only true God who has sent me" ( The Bible, John 17:3 )

T H E F I R S T C O M M A N D M E N T I S T H A T G O D I S O N E

• Hear, O Israel : The Lord our God is one Lord. ( Mark (12:29).

S T A T U S O F J E S U S ( P B U H ) I N I S L A M

• Islam is the only non christian faith which makes it an article of faith to believe in Jesus (PBUH). No Muslim is a muslim if he does not believe in Jesus (PBUH).

• We believe that He gave life to the dead with God's permission.

Concept of God in Islam

Presented by : Ahsan Mahmood

(2013-ME-424)

• The meaning of Islam is to “submit your will to Allah”.

• Islam is the 2nd biggest religions of the world.

• There are more than 1.2 billion people in world who follows Islam.

• Muslims believe in Monotheism.

Beliefs of Muslims

• Muslims belief in Monotheism.

• According to the Muslims Allah sent messengers to the mankind.

• The purpose of the sending of the prophets is to teach the lesson of Monotheism.

• Islam thus makes an article on believe upon all prophets from Adam to till Jesus(A.S)

Who is God??

Preferred Name

Monotheism

• There are three types of Monotheism.

• 1: Tawheed Ar Raboobiyah

• 2: Tawheed Al Asma Wa Safaat

• 3: Tawheed Al Ibadah.

Conclusion

• All Religious Scriptures Ultimately Speak about Monotheism

• Quran Rejects All Self Made Beliefs of Heretics

• In a Nut Shell, Islam Represents the True Concept of Monotheism and God.

Any Query?????•