- [Instructor] In previous videos, we've gone into
reasonable depth on the narrative of how the Sikh
religion was started, initially by Guru Nanak
and then it how it developed under the next gurus
all the way until the tenth guru and finally
as it was compiled in the Guru Granth Sahib,
which is considered by Sikhs to be the last and final guru.
Sikhism is oftentimes compared to both Hinduism and Islam,
sometimes with reference to the idea that it has elements
of both, while others would argue that no,
it is a completely independent religion and any similarity
is just coincidental, so let's tackle that central question.
What elements of continuity does Sikhism represent?
And in this video, we're gonna think about continuity
in terms of religious continuity and in particular,
does it have elements from Islam or Hinduism in it?
So we could first focus on some of the cultural trappings
or some of the historical trappings of Sikhism
and think about the connections to both Hinduism and Islam.
The first obvious connections is that Guru Nanak,
the first guru, and many of the early gurus
grew up in Hindu families.
But there are also cultural connections to Islam.
The Sikh religion emerges in Punjab, which is where or near
the various Muslim rulers of the time held their capitals,
whether we're talking about the Delhi sultanate,
which was in power for over 250 years when Sikhism started
to emerge with Guru Nanak, but also the Moghul empire,
which really developed in its early stages at the same time
that Sikhism develops, so that many of the followers
of Sikhism were both Hindu and Muslim.
A lot of the terminology of Sikhism borrows words
and borrows ideas from both Islam and Hinduism.
The word Allah is used to refer to god in parts
of the Guru Granth Sahib but so is the word Ram.
One of the first and closest followers of Guru Nanak,
who was with him most of his life was Bhai Mardana
and even today, many pictures of Guru Nanak
would have Bhai Mardana in them.
Guru Nanak famously as someone who was spiritually
precocious and spiritually curious,
traveled through India and Persia and the Middle East
so he visited many temples but there's also many historic
accounts of him going to Mecca and performing hajj.
The Guru Granth Sahib, which is considered the spiritual
book the 11th and final guru for the Sikhs,
of the contributors to them, you have Kabir,
who grew up in a Muslim family, he lived either around
the time of Guru Nanak or in the century before Guru Nanak
and would write about both Allah and Ram,
although he was often critical of both Hinduism and Islam,
and you also have Shaikh Farid, who was a Muslim Sufi writer
and spiritual figure and he has also contributed
to the Guru Granth Sahib.
There's also important rituals that come from Hinduism,
so for example, when Sikhs pass away, like Hindus,
they are cremated, so just looking at this list,
you immediately see that there's definitely cultural
elements whether we're talking about words,
whether we're talking about rituals,
whether we're talking about even just the historical
narrative of how and where Sikhism started
that are closely tied to ideas of Hinduism
and closely tied to ideas of Islam.
But now let's look at the scripture itself and see if
we can glean any more similarities or differences.
This is the Mool Mantar which means main mantra
or the basic teaching of Sikhism and it comes from
Guru Nanak and this is an English translation,
you'll see variations of this but it essentially says
one universal creator god, the name is truth,
creative being personified, no fear, no hatred,
image of the undying, beyond birth, self-existent,
by guru's grace.
Throughout the Guru Granth Sahib and much of the writings
of especially Guru Nanak focus on devotion to god,
the one universal god, and so many of you might think,
well that seems to have connections to Islam
but then you could say, well even in Hinduism,
although there are many aspects of god, the various deities,
but there's this notion of a fundamental reality of Brahman
so maybe it has elements of that or maybe this is just
independently developed but there definitely are parts
of the Guru Granth Sahib which seem to have elements
that are close to Islam.
This is a quote from Guru Nanak.
He is Allah, the unknowable, the inaccessible,
all-powerful and merciful creator.
So one argument is he's using the Arabic word for god,
he's using Allah.
Now another argument, counterargument, would be well,
he's just using the language that his followers knew
and many of his followers were Muslim and so would have
used the word Allah for god, but he is not saying
that it necessarily has to be the exact
concept of god as in Islam.
Now this is from Kabir.
Someone sets up a stone idol and all the world worships it
as the lord, those who hold to this belief
will be drowned in the river of darkness,
and this is in the Guru Granth Sahib.
This notion of being against idol worship
comes out very clear in this quotation and that is another
idea that is often associated with Islam.
But as I mentioned,
there's also many parallels with Hinduism.
In the first video on Sikhism, I gave you this quote
from Guru Nanak, the world is a drama, staged in a dream.
Which alludes to the Hindu notion of maya,
the physical reality is all an illusion,
we wanna pierce through that veil.
What should the yogi have to fear?
Trees, plants, and all that is inside and outside
is he himself.
So this is an idea that we get very clearly
from the Upanishads, any notion of duality,
of me being different from you or even one versus god,
it's all an illusion, all is one.
By the karma of past actions, the robe of this physical body
is obtained, by his grace the gate of liberation is found.
So clear references to the Hindu notions of karma,
that action drives consequences, that you enter one
physical body after another, but that's not your true self,
the robe of this physical, there's a true self
and eventually, through the grace of the ultimate reality,
you might be able to have liberation, have moksha,
so clear Hindu parallels as well.
One angle is that Guru Nanak and Sikhism was attempting
a reformation of both, taking elements that were compelling
in either and then purifying them, making them more
internal focused, less focused on ritual,
less focused on the external, and more focused on meditation
and the true self.
There's a lot of quotations in reference to both religions
that make it clear that it was something different
and is critical of at least how both religions seemed
to be practiced in India at that time.
Guru Nanak famously said there is no Hindu,
there is no Musalman.
Most people feel that he's saying this distinction
that we make between human beings based on these
belief systems, that these are superficial,
that these are to some degree transient,
that we are all part of the universal,
part of the ultimate reality, part of god.
This is from Guru Arjan, the Muslim god Allah
and the Hindu god Paarbrahm are one and the same.
So here, trying to unify these ideas, and listen,
this is in a context where many of the followers are Muslim
and many are Hindu and putting it in words
that they understand.
My body and breath of life belong to Allah,
to Ram, the god of both.
So once again it's this bhakti, this devotional aspect,
surrendering to god and using the terminology that would be
familiar to people in that time and in that space.
So I encourage you, go out there, research,
think about it for yourself, Sikhism for sure has its own
unique identity and pretty much every religion
is a product of the context in which it emerged
and has elements from other religions,
whether or not that was done intentionally,
whether or not it's chance, there does seem to be parallels.
We can make a whole tree of religions if we like,
if we put Sikhism right here, the question mark of this
video is you have this narrative of Islam,
to what degree does it influence Sikhism?
And many would say that especially the Sufi orders of Islam
have much to do with Sikhism.
Sufism is a school of Islam that is more inward looking,
that is about devotional love to god
and that's what a lot of Sikhism is focused on,
but as mentioned, one could also think about Hinduism,
which is much older than pretty much any other living
religion today and in other videos,
we talk about the bhakti movement, which is about devotional
love to god, there's also a school of thought in Hinduism
known as Vedanta, which is more focused on the core
spiritual ideas of the Upanishads,
the notion of the ultimate self, the ultimate reality,
escaping from the cycle of births and deaths,
from samsara, achieving liberation, moksha.
All of these ideas are in Sikhism
and to make the point clear that all of our major religions
are connected to each other, we can keep drawing this tree.
We talk about how Buddhism springs out of Hinduism,
that Buddha was a Hindu and it might have been in reaction
to some of the ritual and the caste that Buddha saw
in Hinduism or at least in Hindu culture.
In fact, some of those same motivations
might have motivated Guru Nanak.
Islam, we talk about in other videos,
famously emerges from a Judeo-Christian tradition.
The most important prophets in Islam after Mohammed
are Jesus, Moses, and Abraham and Christianity of course
comes out of a Jewish tradition, Jesus was Jewish.
And one could say that there's even some direct connections
between Judaism and Islam, notions of not eating pork,
notions of halal and kosher, ideas of circumcision.
And one could even argue that Judaism and Islam
also have close ties to Zoroastrianism,
a very ancient monotheistic religion and Cyrus the Great
of Persia was the one who really spread Zoroastrianism
and he is considered a messiah amongst the Jewish people
because he liberated them from the Babylonian captivity,
helped them re-settle in Jerusalem,
and helped rebuild the temple at Jerusalem.
Zoroastrianism also has ties to Islam.
Zoroastrians pray five times a day just like Muslims,
they have the ritual bathing before the prayer,
just like Muslims, at the same time of day.
So once again, amongst all of these religions,
they definitely came in contact with each other
and you definitely have ideas that are shared
amongst the religions, so with that,
I'll leave you with one last quote from Guru Nanak.
And this one would arguable be addressed to his Muslim
followers but it gives you a sense of his trying
to bring people back to the internal,
trying to make people less focused on external ritual,
external physical reality, and more on internal goodness
and your actions being more important
than your words or your rituals.
"Make kindness your mosque, sincerity your prayer carpet,
"what is just and lawful your Quran,
"modesty your circumcision, civility your fasting,
"so shalt thou be a Musalman," or a Muslim.
"Make right conduct your Kaaba," making reference
to the pilgrimage site Muslims go to and pray towards,
"truth your spiritual guide, good works your creed
"and your prayer, the will of god your rosary,
"and god will preserve your honor," Guru Nanak.