Sikhism Connections to Hinduism and Islam

Sikhism is known as the fifth originated religion in the world while only a few people know about this religion. Sikhs had their influence under the guidance of Guru Nanak in the 16th century in the North-Western part of India. This religion evolved as an answer to the two major religions of India - Hinduism and Islamic religion. 

In this context, we will learn about the Sikhism connections to Hinduism and Islam. We will also learn about their similarities and dissimilarities. We will also answer some interesting questions like “Are Sikhs Muslims?” and other such important questions. 

Singh and Kaur – The Lion and Princess of Sikhism

Sikhism in the world today counts over 20 million disciples. Those who follow Sikhism are referred to as the “Sikhs”. In this religion, it does not matter what race, nationality, caste or gender is. The Sikhs strongly fight any sort of social discrimination like race or caste.  

The Sikhs are easily recognised by their turban and long beards, this is the symbol of their resistance against the persecutions that they had to undergo from the Hindus and Muslims back in the 17th century. They can be also distinguished by the names that they assign to themselves, like Singh which means “lion” for a man and Kaur which means “princess” for a woman.

Guru Nanak – Founder of Sikhism

Guru Nanak was born as a Hindu and was raised in a caste of a merchant family near Lahore, Pakistan. Guru Nanak lived in contact with Hinduism and Islam, while he was never convinced nor converted into any one of them. Guru Nanak only remained spiritually fascinated. According to him, religion is a way to unite men, and not to divide them.

After taking a 20 year-long trip of spiritual enlightenment, he took him from India to Nepal, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Mecca, Persia, and Afghanistan, he founded the city named Kartarpur on his way back home. This city was known as “the city of the Creator”. There he gathered a community where there were no Hindu or Muslim “no Hindi or Muslim”, in Punjabi, on the right bank of the river Ravi which is now under the Pakistan territory.

Guru Nanak had his revelation from Waheguru (God in Sikh). From his guidance, religion got the path of a spiritual foundation. With his teaching, the Hindi tradition of “bhakti” (devotion) developed in the religion. The guru assembled around him a community who worshipped the uniqueness and the absolute representation of God that is the Truth. 

Sikhs and Muslims 

Islam is an Abrahamian religion that is found in the Peninsula of Arabia. While Sikhism is known as a Dharmic religion which is found in the region of Punjab which is located in the Indian subcontinent. The meaning of ‘Islam’ is ‘peace’ or ‘submission to Allah or God’ while, ‘Sikh’ is a Sanskrit word that means ‘disciple’ or the one who learns.

Sikhs and Muslims follow monotheistically, that is, beliefs in one God or one creator. Islam believes that God revealed the Quran in the 7th century to their last Prophet – Muhammad Prophet.  While Sikhism was founded much later in the 15th century CE by Guru Nanak and Guru Granth Sahib is the holy scripture that is followed by the Sikhs as the “Living Guru”. 

Sikhism and Islam Conflict

The real reason for the conflict between Sikhs and Muslims is the long-standing religious and political differences between them. The fact is that the Sikhs and the Muslim religion had laid their foundations on the assumption of the political dimension in such a way that both religions see each other as opposing political ideologies. The hostilities which are outraged among them with the intention of the Sikhs and the Muslims is because to maintain a religious identity that has a political agenda. 

The Sikhs people perceive the Islam people as their enemy religion. The strong religion-political conflicts growing among them are felt in Punjab where the two communities are ready to kill each other, and this is seen as a religious massacre. This strong religion with political differences still exists in the conflict not only in Punjab but in other areas like in Kashmir today.

On a positive note, there have been several instances where cooperation between these two religions - Sikhs and Muslims- was found. At the time of laying the foundation stone of the Sikhs golden temple in Amritsar by a Muslim cleric, the cooperation was highlighted. This is a symbolic event that shows the historical cooperation between these two communities. 

Sikhism and Hinduism Similarities 

Sikhs have many equal concepts with the Hindus as their religion emerged from a society and culture which was predominantly influenced by Hinduism for thousands of years. As already said, Guru Nanak who was the founder of Sikhism was actually born in a Hindu family and he grew up listening to the Hindu as well as to the Muslim spiritual leaders. Thus, all these reasons make it possible that there are many common ideas that are being shared between Sikhism and Hinduism.

• Both these religions - Hinduism and Sikhism believe that a human not only has a physical content, but also an individual soul. This individual soul is known as ‘Atma or ‘atman’.

• This soul or atman never ends even with death, rather it continues through the process of rebirth. This cycle or process of rebirth is called ‘samsara’ and it can only be broken by the process of enlightenment of God which the Hindus call ‘moksha’, and Sikhs call it  ‘mukti’.

• Apart from samsara, both these religions also share the idea of karma, which says that a person’s actions will affect what happens to the individual’s soul in his or her future life. This principle of both religions is similar to the English proverb ‘You will reap what you sow.’

Did You Know?

• Sikhism is undoubtedly much closer to Hinduism than Islam as it retains a maximum of the Hindi theories like the preaching of karma and reincarnation. 

• While the foundation of Sikhs is much like Islam – it advocates monotheism. 

• The disciples of Sikh are invited to lead a true and fruitful life. To follow honesty and integrity and be submissive to God’s words. These are the paths to reach the “Mukti” or what you say is real freedom or “Liberation”. 

• They have a life in conformity with your beliefs. This means that they have a healthy life with healthy eating habits.

• They lead to living a life by exchange and sharing with others, this is their ultimate goal of life: to become a “sachiar” which means to “grow by yourself”.

Conclusion

Thus, we see Sikhs resemble a close connection to the Hindus than it does with the Muslim community. On the other hand, though there are ongoing outrages that disturb the community like the conflict between the Sikhs and Islam but both these religions cooperate well which symbolizes the power of brotherhood and oneness.