UNREVEALED: CIVILISED
Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
2. UNREVEALED: CIVILISED (HINDUISM) :
[Note: In respect of this category, we shall deal with Hinduism under two separate headings, viz., (a) Philosophical Hinduism, and (b) Popular Hinduism. This we shall do because of certain very fundamental difficulties.
Hinduism is popularly believed to be a consolidated religion and, as such, the oldest among the important religions of the world. Actually, what passes under the name of Hinduism is a collection of different systems of religion, and of different philosophies and mythologies, with a strong colouring of the human element in the historical experiences of Asiatic section of the Aryan race. As such, it is a hybrid melange. At best, it is the record of a rich civilisation of the past—a civilisation that had many elements of merit and many deficiencies and even ugly aspects. An earnest student does find there some profound philosophical discussions, which at times shoot off into the fervour of pure Monotheism—thereby confirming the Qur’anic stand as to the advent among the Aryans of Divine Messengers the light of whose Message glimmers today, even as in the case of the Messengers whom Judaism and Christianity mention, only through the mists of later distortions. And he finds certain noble moral concepts and words of wisdom and sciences like the science of Yoga. But, he also finds that, unfortunately, humanity cannot benefit from all that any more than it can benefit from the achievements of the philosophers, the psychologists and the spiritualists of other ancient and modern communities, with all the respective differences in outlooks and statures notwithstanding; because: firstly, nothing in Hinduism has any divine sanction, and consequently no seeker of God—quest for God being the very essence of a spiritual religion—can place himself under the control of the subjective findings of the Hindu philosophers and sages (which is the highest that Hinduism can offer); and, secondly, all that which may be regarded as worthy of appreciation in any sense is mixed up with an overwhelming and dominating mass of puerile beliefs, ugly practices and inhuman social concepts; and it is impossible for even the most radical among the reformers (who have been appearing since the impact initially of Islam and later on of Modern Thought) to purge Hinduism of all objectionable elements in the name of Hinduism itself without creating a new man-made religion. Moreover, unlike Christianity which has the Bible, and unlike Islam which has the Qur’an, Hinduism has no single consolidated scripture.
The renowned Hindu scholar and leader, Pundit Jawahar Lal Nehru says (The Discovery of India, p. 37):
“Hinduism as a faith is vague, amorphous, many sided, all things to all men. It is hardly possible to define it, or indeed to say definitely whether it is religion or not, in the usual sense of the word. In its present form, and even in the past, it embraces many beliefs and practices, from the highest to the lowest, often opposed to or contradicting each other.”
John Clark Archer, the western scholar of Comparative Religion, observes (The Great Religions of the Modern World, pp. 44-45):
“Hinduism in its vagueness is first of all an item of the Stone Age. It is so ancient … Hinduism has had no founder to furnish a basic message, no early leader comparable with Zoroaster, Jesus or Muhammad … These at least, each in its turn, inspired a ‘book of wisdom’, a ‘gospel’, and a ‘writing’. Hindus have had no one even like Confucius to edit fully a long, inherited tradition. Strictly speaking, they have had for themselves no such figures as the Jains have in their Vardhaman Mahavira, as Buddhists have in Gotama Sakyamuni or as the Sikhs have in Nanak. In a sense, the founders of Hinduism are legion, their figures as shadowy as ‘cloud messengers’ of changeful constitution and fitful errand.”
However, taking up Hinduism as one religion, as it is understood to be, we shall attempt a scientific classification of the basic concepts that constitute its foundations.]
(a) Philosophical Hinduism:
1. Concept of God: Pantheism with high philosophical fervour, joined to monotheistic approach, on the one and, and to philosophised idol-worship, on the other.
2. Outlook: More speculative than religious. (at its highest)
3. Standpoint: Mystico-philosophical.
4. Ideal: Individualistic salvation, through meditation and ascetic exercises as if human life and the world are essentially evil.
5. Standard of Behaviour: Ascetic
6. Mission: Salvation (muktī) of the individual from the evil of the ever-repeating cycles of earthly existence.
7. Programme: Basically mystico-ascetic exercises.
(b) Popular Hinduism:
1. Concept of God: Nature-worship and Fetish-worship, representing the approach to the metaphysical Reality and grounded in rank Polytheism.
2. Outlook: Superstitious-cum-mystical-cum-racial.
3. Standpoint: Ritualistic and magical, rather than ethical.
4. Ideal: Ethically considered: Preservation of the Social System based on distinctions of race and caste, together with the sanctity of the metaphysics and the ethics from which the said Social System derives its sanction.
Religiously considered: Deliverance from the painful and inexhorable cycle of re-births.
5. Standard of Behaviour: Adherence to caste-based ethics, as distinct from the universalistic humanistic ethics.
6. Mission: Supremacy of the Hindu section of the Aryan race.
7. Programme: Performance of religious rituals and pursuit of earthly requirements of life within a caste-ridden -cum- autocratic -cum- feudalistic -cum- capitalistic ethico-politico-economic framework.
to be continued . . . . .
Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times
