What do Muslims consider Hinduism as?

Question

Do Muslims consider Hinduism as a polytheistic religion?

Answer 1

Why Hindus worship so many gods and goddesses?

Is the form of God important? Can God have only one form ? If He has only one form, can we really call Him infinite? How can God have just one form? Does not it amount to limitation, having finite nature rather than infinite nature. Even as human beings, we appear differently during the different stages of our lives. All that you need to do is take out your own photographs taken during different times, moods and period of your life and place them in one frame together and look at them. You will be surprised at the amount of variation in your own looks and appearance during different times. If God is the true Creator and Ruler of this manifest universe, He must be carrying out diverse functions, in order to sustain it, protect it and manage it. Each of these functions require certain predominant qualities and skills specific to perform the tasks at hand. These aspects may be part of God or separate from Him for the purpose of His creation. They may be His aspects, emanations, manifestations, incarnations and creations.

According to the tenets of Hinduism, God is one as well as many. In His highest and undifferentiated aspect, He is the unknown and indescribable primeval consciousness, known as Nirguna Brahman or Brahman without qualities. Under some mysterious circumstances, part of Him becomes active and distinguishes itself as Saguna Brahman or Brahman with qualities. He is the awakened Brahman and referred in the scriptures as Iswara or Lord of the Universe. He is to be found every where and in every thing. He is there in the sky, in the rivers, in the plants and trees and even in a particle of dust. He is an enigma, because He is in many things at a time and is many things at a time. He is visible as well as invisible. He is here and He is there. He is above and He is below. He is with forms and also without form. He speaks and He speaks not. He is the self and also the not-self. To say that this is God and this is not is perhaps much more sacrilegious, if there is anything like sacrilegious in the world of God, than seeing God in images and idols and worshipping Him.

Hinduism recognizes this fundamental truth about God in letter and spirit. For the Hindus the whole universe is sacred, permeated by His presence, radiating His glory, sustained by Him and manifested by Him. Every thing in it and every aspect of it, without an exception, is sacred and worthy of worship. If God is to be found only in the heavens, nowhere else, sitting on a throne and ruling the worlds or dispensing justice, then He cannot be God but just an aspect of Him. If God favors only those who worship Him in a particular manner, calling Him by a particular name, and declares that every one else who does not follow those percepts will go to h**l, then He cannot be God, but an inferior aspect of Him.

Hindus worship God according to their level of understanding. Some worship the highest God, some worship the village deities. Some worship a personal god believing him to be the Highest God. Some worship many gods simultaneously, with the belief that they all are the different manifestations of the same God. Some people worship Him in the form of images. Some worship His name by chanting His name or writing it a million or ten million times. Some make Him offerings of food and money. Some offer themselves completely. Some do not offer Him anything, but just worship Him either out of fear or want. Some do not worship Him at all, but still remain within the fold of Hinduism.

In Hinduism there are many schools of thoughts and many layers of thoughts, because Hinduism is not the product of one prophet or one messiah and because it does not believe in the tyranny of religious dogmatism and in the stratification of human thought. It is a product of man's freedom of thought and of action. A constantly evolving and flowering religion, with many streams of thought assimilated in it, it is a product of mankind's history - a synthesis of many experiences and thought processes that make it extremely complex, but generously tolerant and lenient. It views the world as a playground of God where man has to resolve his illusions and pettiness and find the Hidden God. And it gives enormous time and opportunity to each individual to find Him in his or her own way. Some find Him. Some do not. Some do not bother at all and try to find something else: money, happiness, relationships, name, fame and so on. Hinduism waits for them patiently, knowing well the inevitable.

There are many ways in which one can pursue the path of liberation. Hinduism broadly classifies them into three categories: the path of devotion, the path of knowledge and the path of duty and on each path an individual has many choices to work out his salvation. There are also many ways in which we can communicate with God. But broadly speaking we can put them into three main categories, namely physical communication, mental communication, and spiritual communication. We communicate with Him physically by worshipping His image or idol, treating with great respect, as if it is alive, and placing it with love and attention in our hearts and houses . We communicate with Him mentally by meditating upon His form, His words or His qualities. And finally, we also communicate with Him spiritually and intuitively  through the silence of our  minds and the loving nature our hearts as the inmost, invisible, infinite and divine Self of all.

For Hinduism all these forms of worship and communion have their own relevance and importance in the spiritual evolution of man. It does not condemn any because each plays its own role at some stage or other in our lives. None will become a Mahatma (great soul) in a life time. For that he has to pass through many lives, make many attempts to purify himself and has to experiment with Truth. Therefore it is inappropriate and very much a sign of spiritual immaturity if any one condemns some methods of worship simply because he does not feel that way or does not agree with other methods of worship. Just as there are many ways in which you can pursue your education, there are many ways in which you can pursue God. It would be sheer stupidity to say that everyone should study history or science or literature or the same text book.

Religion is a pathless land, as J.Krishnamurthy said , in which each individual has to find his own path. The Buddha said that unless you arrived at the Truth on your own, you did not arrive at it. Each individual has to work out his own salvation in a manner he deems fit. No individual or organization can claim copyright to the words of God.  In the land of God, there are no quick fix formulae, no instant nirvana with a few scriptural studies. Can there be just one path to an ocean or only one way to reach any destination?  If God is everywhere and is hidden in every thing, we must be able to find Him every where and in every form. Otherwise we are pursuing not God but something else.

The gods and goddesses of Hinduism are real beings. They are unquestionably and undoubtedly manifestations of God Himself, who exist in space and time, not as a figment of our imagination or superstition, but as real beings capable of miraculous deeds. The personal experiences of countless number of Hindu saints and sages  stand testimony to this fact. These sacred souls are born in every age and every generation and confirm beyond doubt that these gods and goddesses exist. The lives and experiences of saints like Sri Ramakrishna , Sri Ramana Maharshi, Swami Shraddananda, Swami Yogananda, Sri Aurobindo, Shridi Saibaba and many more whose names if enumerated would perhaps fill several pages, prove beyond doubt that the gods and goddesses exist in different planes of reality and would respond to us favorably if we pray to them with our hearts and minds.

Therefore for a Hindu the worship of gods and goddesses is not a mere superstitious idolatry but an act of faith and a form of communication, a way of placing our cares and concerns in the hands of God, the One Supreme Universal Self, of infinite dimensions, who envelops the worlds, the planets and the whole universe and is also hidden in them. The gods and goddesses are His different forms,  the many hands, feet and faces of the one Supreme Purusha, the universal Self, by worshipping whom, in whatever form, none incurs sin and none goes to h**l.

What about those who worship different kinds of human and animal spirits, village deities, and demi gods?

The Bhagavad gita clearly explains the pitfalls of worshipping smaller gods and making offerings to them. Sri Krishna informs us clearly that those who worship smaller gods would go to them, while those who worship the Supreme Self  would reach Him only. Hinduism therefore does not view favorably the practice of worshipping smaller deities, but does not condemn the worshippers either for choosing a circuitous path.  

i hope this helps :)

Answer 2

yes and yes. The whole world considers Hindus polytheists.

Answer 3

Idol worshipers. Idol created by human hands. Hindus worship humans and animals. Ram is a human, Ganesh and Hanuman are animal an so on.

Is it a sin to worship anyother God besides the true God? The answer is  YES. This is what told in Hindu scripture Veda.

"Do not worship any one beside Him" (Rig Veda Bk. 8, Hymn 1, Vs 1).

"God is only one, - not a second"- (Chandogya Upanishad Ch. 6, Sect. 2, verse 1)

"Do not worship any one beside Him" (Rig Veda Bk. 8, Hymn 1, Vs 1)

"na tasya pratima asti "There is no image of Him." [Yajurveda 32:3]

So, according to Hindu scriptures, one is not allowed to worship any x,y,z God besides the True God.

Answer 4

You lovely people please open your mind !! Hindus don't care if you call them khafirs, sinners, whatever nasty things you wish to call us. The difference between hindus and muslims are the former respects and believes you are on path to god just as much as a hindu, Christian, Sikh or a Jewish person is.

If you want to quote about hinduism at least make the effort to quote from a hindu website rather than a Muslim one. If i am researching Islam, would it make sense if i quoted from www.hindu.org ??? Nope, only some one with an agenda to bullshit will do that like the guy ranting about what "Krishna" in hinduism stands for.

I am not here to debate with you or quote the Hindu scriptures (unlike Muslims who love quoting on a Hindu q/a from Quran) Nor do i care about converting you.........unlike the tendency of a Muslim.

Just debate with logic people.

Incase truly curious about Hinduism try this website:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropoli...

I think its written very simply and may just clear all your negative notions about Hinduism.

Keep believing in Allah...........Ram, Allah and Jesus are all the same god!!

Answer 5

Muslims believe what Hindu claim themselves and feel proud in it. They do associate things with God and give a status of divinity to mere things.

However, it is todays Hinduism. Islam recognizes Hinduism as a religion of past that was originated according to the needs of the human minds at that point of Histroy. With evolution of religion Hinduism became an outdated stuff.

Every religion, however idolatrous it may appear to us today, was fundamentally a monotheistic religion because if one does not accept this universal principle then arguments between religions will have no end whatsoever and each religion will be understood to have emanated from a different source, from a different God.

What went wrong is that Hindu started to beleive Lord Krishna as creator of the worlds. Krishna (as) himself only claimed to be a Messenger, no more. For instance, his being called `murli dhar' (flute player). Apparently, the flute is singing the song or creating the music but there is breath behind it. Then he has more hands than ordinary people and he has a body, a well defined body, but instead of two hands he has four hands and he is also known to have possessed wings.

Read it full here:

http://www.alislam.org/library/links/000...

http://www.alislam.org/library/books/rev...

Concept of God in Hinduism and how it is changed:

http://www2.alislam.org/askislam/mp3/MEI...

Answer 6

yes and yes

Answer 7

Hinduism, the term, was invented by the British. Otherwise, ancient tribes of India worshipped local dieties. When talking to Hindus about Allah, focus on "Oneness." All Hindu devotees strive to attain Oneness. This is a state of mind close to Taqwa.  

Answer 8

1) Yes

2) The absolute worst.

Answer 9

Salam for you my dear friend.

Yes muslims regard Hinduism as a polytheistic religion which is against with the monotheism just only believe to Allah the only one God without ally.They are considered as kafirs and they will have the worst and big sins of shirk.Hindusm is unfair and illogic because they bilieve in idols and statues and they are divided into several castes the highest brahmana and the lowest sudra, just opposite in Islam all people are treated the sameThe difference lies only on its faith (iman and taqwa)and good doings ( amal ibadah) in the eyes of God.

Hinduism is a not in line with the religion brought by Adam,Nuh(Noah),

Abraham(Ibrahim),Jacoob,Ishaqupt to Isa Al Masih or Jesus and Ismael up to Muhammad prophet

Answer 10

yes...muslims consider Hinduism as a polytheistic religion, which by the way, is one of the many differences between it and Islam.  

Answer 11

Yes Hinduism is polytheism.

Polytheism = Shirk = associating partners with The One Creator = the biggest sin in Islaam.  

*It is what makes someone a believer or disbeliever.

:)

Yes, even though the Hindus below have quoted about their marvelous religion, they forgot that the question asked for how Muslims consider Hinduism as, and btw, the answerer didn't respond to it without knowing the nature of Hinduism.



Qur'aan doesn't mention "hindu" anywhere.  But it teaches us not to associate partners in worship.  That means, there is no need for idols, there is no need to imagine god, there is no need to put thoughts about God's characteristics and attributes, there is no need for another person to ask for another etc.  God IS what He taught us He is and more than that, but we don't have knowledge of it, period.  And we can directly ask Him, pray to Him wherever we are, except we are not to do so in dirty places and graves.  

THESE ARE THE MAIN REASONS WHY HINDUISM IS TRUELY POLYTHIESTIC IN NATURE ACCORDING TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF ISLAAM, & IT IS NOT CONSIDERED WORSHIP OF ONE TRUE GOD!  But mixed with thoughts of men.  

This exactly IS what takes one out of the correct belief/path in Islaam.  And it is not only Hinduism, but also many Muslims have added such things to religion, and it is shirk.  And Allah forbade us from this again and again and again.  

So it is not a criticism to the fellow Hindus here, but it is only the understanding of faith/belief and worship in Islaam.

Oh! and kaafir isn't nasty name calling, kaafir means the one who denies, and you do deny the message of Islaam, and that's all it means.  And often people say, non-Muslim instead in English.  Only Islaam haters come up with ideas to make it sounds horrible and nasty may be. but it truely isn't meant that way at all.

Peace! :)

Answer 12

Yes, Hinduism is based on Polytheism.It equates Shirk which is considered as the biggest sin in front of Allah.Prophet (PBUH) was sent on people who used to worship idols.Surah Ikhlas, the 112th, in Qur'an negates the concept of God they used to have:

(1) Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;

(2) Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;

(3) He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;

(4) And there is none like unto Him.

There is nothing like Him and Allah explains it again and again.In Surah Az-Zumr , the 39th Surah of Qur'an, in ayat 3-7 Allah says:

(3) Is it not to Allah that sincere devotion is due? But those who take for protectors other than Allah (say): "We only serve them in order that they may bring us nearer to Allah." Truly Allah will judge between them in that wherein they differ. But Allah guides not such as are false and ungrateful.

(4) Had Allah wished to take to Himself a son, He could have chosen whom He pleased out of those whom He doth create: but Glory be to Him! (He is above such things.) He is Allah, the One, the Irresistible. (5) He created the heavens and the earth in true (proportions): He makes the Night overlap the Day, and the Day overlap the Night: He has subjected the sun and the moon (to His law): Each one follows a course for a time appointed. Is not He the Exalted in Power - He Who forgives again and again?

(6) He created you (all) from a single person: then created, of like nature, his mate; and he sent down for you eight head of cattle in pairs: He makes you, in the wombs of your mothers, in stages, one after another, in three veils of darkness. such is Allah, your Lord and Cherisher: to Him belongs (all) dominion. There is no god but He: then how are ye turned away (from your true Centre)?

(7) If ye reject ((Allah)), Truly Allah hath no need of you; but He liketh not ingratitude from His servants: if ye are grateful, He is pleased with you. No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another. In the end, to your Lord is your Return, when He will tell you the truth of all that ye did (in this life). for He knoweth well all that is in (men's) hearts.

You cannot compare anything with Him, this world is full of His magnificences, but nothing can equate Him.

In Sahih Bukhari, there's a hadith, Narrated Abdullah:

When the Verse:--"It is those who believe and do not confuse their belief with wrong ( i.e. joining others in worship with Allah" (6.83) was revealed, we said, "O Allah's Apostle! Who is there amongst us who has not done wrong to himself?" He replied, "It is not as you say, for 'wrong' in the Verse and 'do not confuse their belief, with wrong means 'shirk' (i.e. joining others in worship with Allah). Haven't you heard Luqman's saying to his son, 'O my son! Join not others in worship with Allah, verily joining others in worship with Allah is a great wrong indeed." (31.13)