The early muslim mystics had not forseen that they would come into open conflict with the administrative authorities of the muslim community. Mysticism is the practice of religious ecstasies religious experiences during alternate states of consciousness, together with whatever ideologies, ethics, rites, myths, legends, and magic may be related to them. John murray, 1923, in a source book of indian philosophy, ed. Buddhists do not consider buddha an avatar of vishnu and believe that hindu priests made that claim to stem the spread of buddhism, which threatened hinduism. This anthology collects the most lyrical, passionate, illuminating writings of the hindu mystical tradition. Islam is a monotheistic abrahamic religion, founded by prophet muhammad in the middle east in the 7th century ce. The initiate soon learns that this dual nature of the scriptures has furtherreaching implications. Get your kindle here, or download a free kindle reading app. The early muslim mystics had not forseen that they would come into open conflict with the administrative authorities of. The religions are discussed separately but comparisons are offered wherever appropriate. Be it a complicated form of vedic ritual such a yajna or some simple form of worship performed ordinarily in millions of hindu households everyday, the process of worship in hinduism invariably involves the use of three basic techniques, namely the mantra, the tantra and the yantra. This book, based upon a jordan lecture in comparative religion of 1959, traces the development of mystical thought during the formative.
They differ in many respects including idol worship, monotheism and their history. Bismi allahirrahmanirrahim the word sufi is derived from the arabic word suf which means wool and which refers to the coarse woolen. Be it a complicated form of vedic ritual such a yajna or some simple form of worship performed ordinarily in millions of hindu households everyday, the process of worship in hinduism invariably involves the use of three basic techniques, namely the. The most obvious result of the religious impact of islam on hinduism is, of course, the existence of a large muslim.
Get an adfree experience with special benefits, and directly support reddit. Hindus live with a legacy of domination by muslim and christian rulers that stretches back many centuriesin northern india, to the delhi sultanate established at the beginning of the th century. Unlike other world religions, hinduism has no founder. This imagery of the primal person, the divine anthropos as the source of all existence, is the cornerstone of hindu theistic speculations that have consistently referred. Local communities and the majority of the muslim rulers did not completely replace the existing hindu way ofliving with orthodox islamic religion and culture. Just as the christian type cannot be understood without reference to christianity, so the mohammedan type must be viewed in connexion with the outward and inward development of islam. A comparative study of mystical experience among christian. Publication date 2016 topics hindu, muslim, mysticism, sufism, vedanta collection opensource language english. The hindu discovers the doctrine of parusha and prakriti. Zaehner school of oriental and african studies, the university of london. I chose the subject of hindu and muslim mysticism because it seemed to me that, voluminous as the literature on mysticism is, much of it starts from the quite unproven premiss that mysticism is a more or less uniform phenomenon appearing in all the great religious traditions. The third and most sophisticated form can be presented as arguing. This book gives a brief general outline of some of the most important types of mysticism, indicating their mutual relations, sometimes genetically and sometimes logically.
Hindus borrowed ideas and concepts from muslim astronomy, calendar zich, medicine, metullargy, and a special branch of horoscopy called tajik, while the muslim scholars studied hindu scriptures, vedanta and the hindu medical science of ayurveda, hindu astrology and the techniques of yoga and meditation. Practical mysticism in islam and christianity offers a comparative study of the works of the sufipoet jalal aldin rumi 12071273 and the practical teachings of the german dominican, meister eckhart c1260278. As mysticism is connected to religion, so is religion to ritualism. Hinduism vs islam difference and comparison diffen. Therefore some old writers referred to the trash or poison of mysticism and others spoke of its vagueness or crude. He was perhaps the only sincere muslim prince, whose effort was to find a common ground between hindu and muslim religious thought islamic mysticism in india by nagendra kumar singh, page 179. Publication date 2016 topics hindu, muslim, mysticism, sufism, vedanta collection. Using an abridged version of hoods mysticism scale, we join the debate with a study of a much larger number of christian, muslim, and hindu respondents 1,920 college students living in tamil nadu. From the jacket this book is a systematic introduction to hindu mysticism as it evolved in india through the ages.
Thus they use the available symbols of their culturalreligious milieu to describe their experience. School of oriental and african studies, university of london. Hindu mysticism hinduism is a religion of profound magic, the most precious and truly supernatural religion on planet earth. This book, based upon a jordan lecture in comparative religion of 1959, traces the development of mystical thought during the formative periods of the hindu. Communities and ideas excerpts from the letters of ibn abbad of ronda, trans. Buddhism, taoism, hinduism, shino are not from following the right path. Christian and buddhist in meeting him one seemed to meet that true man of no title that chuang tzu and the zen masters speak of. The inner path in hinduism is a wellmarked one, and yet to the casual observer it may appear to be lost in a mire of superstition and the rote worship of many gods. Hood developed a mysticism scale based on the theoretical work of stace.
Islam is a monotheistic religion in which the deity is allah arabic. So far from this being the case, certain varieties of mystical. The interaction of islam and hinduism columbia university. In meeting dr suzuki and drinking a cup of tea with him i felt i.
The authors discussion includes the classical upanishads, the. Hinduism and islam, a comparison of beliefs and practices. The most famous form of pantheism, in hindu system known as advaita vedanta and in muslim thought as waidat alwujud, is a mystical and pure one of the thesis of unity of being. I have a foreboding of an america in my childrens or grandchildrens time when the united states is a service and information economy. The authors discussion includes the classical upanishads, the yogasutras, the bhagavadgita and their commentaries. And of course this is the man one really wants to meet. Although scholars have often differentiated between these aspects, the relation between all three is undeniable and inextricable. One of the marvels of islam is the acceptance by the orthodox of the sufis with their doctrines.
To what extent can agreement with mystical experience among christian, muslim, and hindu college students be explained by personal sociocultural, socioeconomic, and socioreligious characteristics. Pdf comparative mysticism download full pdf book download. The part on hinduism focuses on the classical upanishads, the yogasutras, the bhagavadgita, and ramanujas commentary on them. The measurement instrument is based on hoods mysticism scale. From islamic asceticism to islamic mysticism article pdf available december 1999 with 1,778 reads.
Despite these general stages, however, the history of islamic mysticism is largely a history of individual mystic experience. This book is a systematic introduction to hindu mysticism as it evolved in india through the ages. Sufism islamic mysticism mysticism is concerned with the nature of reality, the individuals struggle to attain a clear vision of reality, and the transformation of consciousness that accompanies such vision. At one time they were put to death for their views. Pdf an analytical study of rise and development of sufism. Pdf alghazali, passages from deliverance from error, trans w. In both traditions, the mysitcal doctrines were held as secrets that could only be approached by the learned few a jewish man cannot study kabbalah jewish mysticism until he is thirty. Hinduism is a way of life of the hindu people of india, their diaspora, and some other regions which had hindu influence in the ancient and medieval times. This work traces the development of mystical thought during the formative periods of the hindu and muslim traditions and provides comparisons between the two streams of mysticism. Mysticism is the practice of religious ecstasies religious experiences during alternate states of consciousness, together with whatever ideologies, ethics, rites. Teaching mysticism presents pedagogical reflections on how best to communicate mysticism from a variety of institutional spaces. It has always been so and should be perpetuated as such for centuries and centuries into the future. At this juncture it will be interesting to note that if, in most cases, a sunni state patronised sunni sufis and hindu ascetics but were rather hostile to shii communities, the attitude and policy of hindu rulers towards muslim mysticism must have been different. The earliest hindu texts, the vedas, say that they were given by god to seven seers at the dawn of time.
Buddhism and jainism were considered sister religions by traditional hindu schools. Pdf michael sells, early muslim spirituality and mysticism in the muslim almanac, ed. This book, based upon a jordan lecture in comparative religion of 1959, traces the development of mystical thought during the formative periods of the hindu and muslim traditions. The scale was tested by hood and others in a comparative perspective. Moore lecturer in comparative religion, the university of kent at canterbury the analytical study of mysticism has had a continuous history from the time of william james the varieties ofreligious experience i 902. This reprint of the 1927 classic is a systematic introduction to hindu mysticism as it evolved in india through the ages.
Rumi has remained an influential figure in islamic mystical discourse since the. In india, mysticism took many forms and sufism was accepted as a natural phenomenon by many gurus and saints. Hindu relations with islam and christianity are in some ways quite different from the ties and tensions that bind together religions of indian origin. Indeed the guide is a biography of an imagined contemporary hindu mystic. Besides kabir, there were other muslim saints who were venerated by hindus and muslims alike. Mystical hinduism mystical paths of worlds religions. The man in the street cannot, as a rule, distinguish between the lower and the higher forms of mysticism. Mysticism is not an intellectual theory, it is fundamentally an active, formative, creative, elevating and ennobling principle of life. The field of religious studies has entered into a new era with a band of small but dedicated scholars willing to question both the methodological and theoretical assumptions of the canonical approaches within the field. Pdf rational pantheism of hindu and muslim thinkers.
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