Amina Nuhanovic

Susan Jacobs
World Religions 2300
Comparison Paper
April 26, 2016
All religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects,
unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but truth! Mahatma
Gandhi.

Throughout my course of World Religions, I learned that in a way each

religion has a connection, whether it be a sort of symbol of the religion, a
certain holy book that has somewhat the same stories, or even belief in the
same prophet. All religions will have some sort of connection that makes it
easy to put together. Although each and every single religion is unique we all
come together in a sort of way by praying to someone above us. Learning
the details about Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam was
one of the most beneficial teachings I can carry with me for the rest of my
life.
Starting with Buddhism, it began in northeastern India and around 563483 BCE, being the fourth largest religion with over 300 million followers. It is
most prevalent in Asia and the teaching are based on the Buddha. In
Buddhism there is not a specific deity who they worship, they believe that
there is an answer to everything and a cause to everything. Buddhas main
teachings are the Four Nobel Truths which is the recognition of suffering, the
acceptance of suffering, its cause and its end. The second teaching is the

Three Marks of Existence which are suffering, impermanence, and

interdependence. In the end the main goal is to reach Nirvana, the way to
achieve freedom from the cycle of rebirth. In order to reach Nirvana, you
must follow the Eightfold Path and the Four Nobel Truths. To become a
Buddha, you have to let go of everything in your past, you must be selfless
and give everyone else your all. To consider yourself a Buddhist you also
have to follow five principals which are against killing, stealing, bad
language, sexual immortality, and the use of drugs and alcohol.
Hinduism is the third largest world religion, with about 900 million
followers. Hinduism began in India in about 1500 BCE and is the oldest
religion. More than half of the people who live in India still follow Hindu
practices. Just like in Buddhism, Hindus do not have just a single deity that
they worship, although they have thousands and thousands. Brahman is
their God who is responsible for the creation of the universe, the rest of the
Gods and Goddesses are manifestations of the one Brahman and they all
have their own followers and teachings. They also have more than one holy
book that they follow, but the three main ones are the Veda, Upanishads and
Bhagavad Gita, these books were revealed to a group of individuals called
the rishis. Hinduism consists of four branches and they are Shaivism, Shakta,
Vaishnavism and Vedanta. For Hindus their one goal is to consider
themselves successful when they reach Enlightenment. When you reach
liberation after your final death, your soul is brought back and reunited with
Brahman. Reincarnation is one of the major key concepts for Hindus and it is

based on Karma, is it the law of Karma that will decide if you are reborn,
depending on your behavior. Hinduism is also like Buddhism in a way
because you have to be selfless, give others first then yourself to get the
same treatment back, but you cannot say If I do this, then I will get this
back it has to be genuine and done from the heart. When Hindus worship at
home or at the temple this is considered Puja, this involves chanting, bowing,
and meditation. They also have different forms of worship, a few are bathing
deities, fire offerings and wedding rituals. Reaching liberation can also be
done by practicing yoga, it acquires knowledge that will lead to liberation.
There are four different types of yoga practices and those are: Karma, Bhakti,
Jnana and Raja. Hindus will travel once every twelve years, more than ten
million of them will pilgrimage to the ritual bathing at the Kumbh Mela
festival at Allahabad where the waters of the Ganges and Jumna combine.
Judaism is a little different from the rest of our world religions because
it is also considered an ethnicity, and it is one of the oldest religions as well.
Judaism was founded in Jerusalem; this was the center of faith for the Jews.
There are many different branches in Judaism, Orthodox is one, the Hasidic
movement, Conservative Jews, the Reform and Reconstructionist Jews. The
main goal for Jews is to keep their traditions going, and their identities safe,
to accept God, and to celebrate life. Jewish people are scattered all around
the world because they were either kicked out of the country they resided in
or they migrated. Judaism has the least amount of worshippers at 15 million,
mostly living in the United States and Israel. Being Jew is a full time job in a

way because your culture is your religion, your customs and your practice.
Jewish people believe in one God, with three important figures, Abraham who
is the Patriarch, Moses who is the most important prophet, and David is
considered the first Monarch of the Kingdom of Israel. Jewish people will
worship at a synagogue or temple, and your home is also just as sacred.
The main holy book for the Jewish people is the Torah which was given to
Abraham. Judaism has many different practices, reading scriptures, worship
through hymns and prayers and the celebrations of certain events and
holidays. Some cultural things for babies and young adults is the Brit Milah,
which is the circumcision ceremony for boys at eight days old, and the Bar or
Bat Mitzvah at age twelve for girls and thirteen for boys which is the
ceremony for them reaching adulthood. Toasting wine is also very important
to the Jewish people, it is something that is sacred at weddings and
baptisms. The most sacred holiday for the Jewish people is Shabbat, which is
their fast. On the seventh day of the week they do not work, but spend the
day fasting and spending time with family. Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish new
year celebrations, Yom Kippur is the day of atonement, and Shavuot is the
day that the Torah was given to Abraham.
Christianity is the worlds largest religion with 2.2 billion followers,
originating in the year 28 CE after the death of Jesus Christ. Christianity is
mostly in the Americas and Europe, but started in Rome. There are three
major branches of Christianity which are Roman Catholic, eastern Orthodoxy
and Protestants. In Christianity there is only one God, and he is the creator of

the universe. He will one be the judge of all humanity, humans will have the
opportunity to be forgiven of their sins and live with God forever, Jesus Christ
was the prophet that received all of Gods teachings and spread them. Jesus
of Nazareth was the founder, the Gospel was how Jesus teachings and
missionary work were spread. The New Testament is a collection of writings
written my Jesus followers. Priests, Pastors, Ministers, Reverends and
Bishops all preach the teachings of Jesus in churches, basilicas, and
cathedrals. Sunday is the day of worship, it is considered liturgy and it
consists of praying, singing, participating in communion and reading
scriptures. To become Christian, you have to be baptized, which is basically
being initiated in. The Bible was considered the Old Testament, which is like
the Hebrew Bible, thats where Judaism and Christianity have some
similarities, but that is why the New Testament was created because it was
the foundation of Christianity. The death of Jesus Christ is seen as a sacrifice
for the salvation of others, this was called the atonement. Christians believed
that after the death of Jesus Christ that he was resurrected to show that we
can overcome death. Today Christians believe that the way to eternal
salvation is through Jesus Christs teachings and that his Gospel should be
taught as an obligation. There are a few holidays that are sacred to
Christians, including Easter is the day that Jesus was resurrected and
Christmas is the day that Jesus was born.
Islam is the second largest religion in the world consisting of 1.5-1.8
billion worshipers, with the fastest growing population. Islam teaches that

there is only one God, Allah, just like in Christianity and Judaism. Many
individuals think that the word Allah means a different God from the ones
that Christians and Jews worship but it is not, it is just the Arabic name from
God. The main prophet for Muslims is Muhammad, and Allah gave
Muhammad the Quran which is the Holy Book for Islam. The Quran has not
once been rewritten or updated, which is something that is unique about
Islam because The Torah and The Bible have both been rewritten several
times. Also in the Quran; Abraham, Moses, Jesus and many others have been
spoken about along with their religions and teachings. There are three
different types of Muslims, two of which are major, the Sunnis and Shia, the
third are the Sufis. Muslims pray five times a day, facing Mecca where the
burial site of Muhammad is. Prayers can be conducted at home or at a
Mosque, you have to take abdest which is the physical preparation before
prayer to consider yourself clean before bowing to Allah. In Islam the
ultimate goal is to fulfill the five obligations which is to have faith in one God,
Allah, and Muhammad as his messenger, Muslims must pray five times a
day, give charity each year, fast during Ramadan and preform the pilgrimage
to Mecca once in their lifetime. The pilgrimage to Mecca reminds me of how
the Hindus will make their pilgrimage every twelve years to the Kumbh Mela
festival. Muslims do believe in the day of judgment where Allah will send an
earthquake and come out of the largest mountain and will grant each and
every Muslim either paradise or a punishment of hell. There arent many
holidays in Islam, but there is the day that Muhammad was born, the Muslim

new Year, Eid-al-Fitr which is the three-day celebration after the month long
fast of Ramadan, then the Eid-al-Adha which is the preparation for the
pilgrimage to Mecca.
In my eyes, I see that we are all equal no matter how we worship, in
the end we are all the same. I think that each religion has a connection in
one way or the other, sometimes I think that maybe there was only one
religion at one point and somehow it split into five major religions by twisting
each and every story. I think learning about each religion is amazing and by
far one of the most interesting things to learn about. My favorite is to see all
of the connections you can piece together after learning about each religion.