Religion beliefs
Islamic is a religion that believes there is only one God, and Muhammad is the messenger who was sent by God. The Islamic religion has five pillars of beliefs which they believe in and exercise them as religious practices. These pillars include; the Shahadah which is the profession of faith, Salat which is the daily prayers that every Muslim makes, Zakat which is the practice of giving a portion of their income to the society, Sawm which the fasting of every Muslim in the holy month of Ramdhan and finally the Hajj which is the practice where Muslim goes to honour the pilgrimage in Mecca (Esposito, 1998). This article discusses the Shahadah Pillar and Charity teaching in the Islamic faith, and it’s a comparison with a similar belief in the Hinduism religion.
Shahadah is one of the Five Pillars of the Islamic religion, and it is a belief that states that Muhammad is a messenger sent by God. The belief also makes it clear that Muslims believes there is no god but God. These two statements are used in the conversion of a person to the Islamic religion, and Muslim uses it in their everyday prayers. This Pillar unites the Islamic religion, and it helps them to acknowledge that Islamic religion only believes in one God. The Pillar also helps the Islamic religion to acknowledge God’s mercy of sending them a messenger and a prophet who was Muhammad to show them the right spiritual ways. Muhammad helped the Islamic religion to follow the right religious path, unlike the earlier path that had been distorted by the Jews (Ali et al. 2004). The statements in this Pillar are used when a Muslim is born or dies, and in every prayer that Muslims make every day. The guidance that Muhammad provided to the Muslims was by the help of Quran which he received and after that, he became the bearer of these guidelines. One of the social teachings in the Islamic religion is Charity. This is social teaching that emphasis the Islamic religion of sharing with the needy in the society. The Quran and the records of actions, and words from Prophet Muhammad are the key sources that are used to put emphasis on this social teaching. Also, the Zakat which is the Third Pillar in the Islamic religion helps to ensure that this social teaching is exercised in the community by Muslims. Muslims also exercise Charity to emulate what their last Prophet sent by God was doing.
The similarity between the beliefs about God in the Islamic and the Hinduism religion is that both religions believe in the existence of a supreme being which is God. Another similarity is that both religions have a holy scripture that they use as guidance to their religion. The Muslims have the Quran as their holy scripture while the Hindus have the Shrutis (Esposito, 1998). The Muslims believe in Muhammad as their last prophet while the Hindus believe in Brahman as their last supreme spirit. The Muslims believe that there is only one God, but the Hindus believe in one God but acknowledge the existence of other gods. The Muslims call their God Allah while the Hindus refer to their God in many words such as Ishvara, Deva, or even Bhagavan according to various schools of Hinduism. The underlying theology in various religions impacts the practices, and the teachings they promote by making sure that they uphold these practices and social teachings from one generation to another. According to Henfer, another reason is that the theology in this religion acts as a guideline and a measure of which a believer’s actions are subjected to, so as to make sure they live up to the religious expectations. Finally, these underlying theologies help believers to acknowledge and uphold specific practices that their Prophets exercised as a sign of faith to the religion and to their Supreme Being.