Other Religions: Islam and Buddhism - Essay Example

? Other Religions: Islam and Buddhism The paper aims to present two religions other than Christianity andstructure the report in terms of defining what type of question one would ask someone practicing that type of religion and how one would prepare oneself for an interview with that person. Likewise, the discourse would present the answers to the indicated questions or what relevant comments one believes that the person would have responded. Finally, one’s personal reflection of this experience in the light of the Christian beliefs and practice would be presented and discussed. The first religion to be explored is Islam followed by Buddhism. Islam and Buddhism 1.0 Islam 1.1 Questions and Responses Aside from Christianity, Islam has been acknowledged as the world’s second largest and continually growing religion (Robinson, Islam: The second largest world religion...and growing, 2011). For Christians or people who are not familiar with Islam, one would be particularly interested to determine concerns that particularly focus on Islam beliefs, practices and traditions. Specifically, one would be most interested to explore answers to the following questions: 1. Where and when did Islam originate? 2. Approximately, how many Muslims are there worldwide? 3. What are their major religious beliefs and practices? 4. What major countries practice Islam as their major religion? 5. What are the major similarities and differences of Islam with Christianity? If one is to prepare for an interview with a person practicing Islam, it would be best to make some preliminary research on the religion using secondary sources of information. With the basic questions in mind, one could use the Google search engine, for instance and find out the responses to these questions. Then, during the interview, one could validate the person’s responses to those that were found from secondary sources. In a way, by making a preliminary research, the interviewer could actively participate in the discussion by exploring more on the issues and could try to ask additional questions that could be related to the issue to verify some ambiguous information and to confirm the responses noted. Using the proposed structure to learn more about Islam, one’s secondary research generated the following responses to the abovementioned questions: According to Rieber (2002), the origin of Islam is traced in Mecca when Allah (God) sent an angel, Gabriel to send revelations to Muhammad, who was born during the period 570 to 571 AD (Rieber, 2002, par. 1). The Muslim Population in the World (2011) website revealed that “Muslim population stands at 2.1 billion which is far greater than currently estimated 1.6 to 1.7 billion whereas Christian Population is 1.98 billion” (p. 1). With the current statistics, it could be deduced the that Muslim population already exceeds the Christian population by 0.12 billion. To quickly verify the information, Gilani (2011) revealed that “despite the movement of the Christian population to different parts of the globe it is still the world's dominant religion with nearly 2.2billion followers. Islam is the world's second-largest religion with about 1.6 billion people or slightly less than a quarter of the global population following the faith” (pars. 6 & 7). The disparity is actually negligible at this time but future increase in Muslim population could indeed surpass Chrisitian population worldwide. The major religious beliefs of Islam focus on believing in Allah, the Kalima, as the brief expression of faith, and complying with duties of prayers (salaat), fasting (saum) and pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) (The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, n.d.). When compared with Christianity, Islam beliefs and practices differ in terms of God where Christians believe in the Blessed Trinity while Muslims believe in one and indivisible Allah; Jesus was regarded as a prophet by the Muslims, as contrasted to Christians’ acknowledging Him as the son of God; their holy book differs – Bible and the Qur'an; and their place of worship – church and mosque, to name a few (Robinson, Islam: The second largest world religion...and growing, 2011). Finally, there are 56 countries where Muslims live and practice their faith but the following countries contain the greatest Muslim population: Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India (Esposito, 2003). 1.2 Personal Reflection Upon reflecting on the responses to the questions noted regarding the Islamic religion, in the light of Christian beliefs and practices, one strongly believes that despite disparities with the Christian faith, the Islam religion espoused a belief in a supreme being, through Allah, who governs one’s way of life. However, Muslims believe that Allah is one and indivisible (Robinson, Islam: The second largest world religion...and growing, 2011), while in Christian religion, the devotees believe in the Holy Trinity or in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, as three persons in the Divine Being (Robinson, Islam: The second largest world religion...and growing, 2011). One is sure that both religions accept this theological concept as true and their faith and trust in the teachings enable practitioners to imbibe the values and beliefs expected of them. Both religions believe in life after death and that a person’s life on earth must have observed the teachings indicated in their respective holy books to ensure eternal peace and salvation. Therefore, there is value in adhereing to ethics and moral codes of conduct and behavior. This means that practitioners are expected to conform to doing good to others and to practice daily prayers, fasting, and observing days of obligation. In sum, just like Christian beliefs and practices, practitioners of the Islamic faith respect people who espouse other religious beliefs. Further, and more importantly, practicing one’s faith through manifesting goodness in actions and refraining from wrong-doings, as well as observing the teachings is the way to salvation. 2.0 Buddhism 2.1 Questions and Responses Buddhism was noted as the fourth largest religion worldwide, next to Hinduism (Robonson: Buddhism, 2011). This religion is mostly practiced and popular in the regions of Asia (Vail, 1982). To learn more about Buddhism, just like what one learned from Islam religion, the same set of questions and inquiries are prepared, to wit: 1. Where and when did Buddhism originate? 2. Approximately, how many Buddhists are there worldwide? 3. What are their major religious beliefs and practices? 4. What major countries practice Buddhism as their major religion? 5. What are the major similarities and differences of Buddhism with Christianity? Any preparation for interviewing a Buddhist should entail conducting preliminary research through secondary sources of information. From one’s research, it could be assumed that one interviewed the people who authored and conducted the research on the topic of Buddhism, where the responses on the questions indicated are as follows: The origin of Buddhism was traced in 6th century B.C.E. and was identified to be founded by “Siddhartha Gautama (the "Buddha")… born in North India (ca. 563 B.C.E.) at a place called Lumbini near the Himalayan foothills, and he began teaching around Benares (at Sarnath). His era in general was one of spiritual, intellectual, and social ferment” (Vail, 1982, par. 1). Estimates of the number of Buddhists worldwide total about were reported to be virtually difficult to accurately identify due to reasons such as lack of congressional membership and failure to participate in public ceremonies; countries without religious freedom such as China could not confirm the exact number of religious devotees; and some practitioners combine Buddhism with other religious affiliations such as Taoism and Confusianism (Robinson, Buddhism Overview: Numbers, history, beliefs, & traditions, 2009). Therefore, the figures range from 350 million to 1,500 million (Robinson, Buddhism Overview: Numbers, history, beliefs, & traditions, 2009). The major beliefs and practices are more clearly stated in terms of adhering to the Four Noble Truths and the Eight Fold Path (Vail, 1982). The Four Noble Truths focus on the teaching that suffering exists, as there is a cause and an end. To end suffering, Buddhism teaches following the Eight Fold Path through discernment and wisdom; virtue and morality; and concentration and meditation (Robinson, Buddhism's core beliefs, 2009). When compared with Christianity, Buddhism differs in terms of not sharing beliefs in the stories from the Bible such as the story at the Garden of Eden, in the flood where Noah and his family with chosen animals survived, and in the salvation through Jesus (Robinson, Comparison of Buddhism & Christianity, 2010). The similarities of both religions are manifested in sharing the belief in life after death (with Buddhism believing in reincarnation, while Christians believe in eternal salvation); and in the Golden Rule where one must do unto others what one wants others to do unto them (Robinson, Comparison of Buddhism & Christianity, 2010). From the number of identified practitioners of Buddhism, the countries mostly practicing this religion is in Korea, Japan, China and Tibet (Vail, 1982). 2.2 Personal Reflection In terms of reflecting on Buddhism in the light of Christian beliefs and practices, one strongly contends that the similarities in terms of sharing the belief in the Golden Rule is the most important teaching and belief that adheres to the ethics of reciprocity. By following teachings and values that are consistent with ethical and moral codes of conduct, one is ensured that conformity to doing good would prevent one from falling to the wrong path of life. Althrough there appears to be more disparities of Buddhism in the light of Christian beliefs and practices, the important facet shared and embodies in both religions are manifested in terms of focusing on themes of morality, love and justice (Robinson, Comparison of Buddhism & Christianity, 2010). By sharing these themes, practitioners learn to accept and respect each people’s beliefs and teachings and enable each one to live independently and in union with each other. In addition, as proven that both religion have existed through time and have propagated continuously by observing their respective teachings, their value and role in contemporary societies continue to support the relevance of their core beliefs. As proven, religions have existed to provide governance and guidance to their respective devotees and ensure that they continue to live for a defined purpose and within the codes of moral discipline expected to live harmoniously in life. References Esposito, J. L. (2003). Islam: FAQs. Retrieved January 14, 2012, from Saudi Aramco World: http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200305/islam-faqs.htm Gilani, N. (2011, December 22). Christianity is still the largest religion in the world but followers have moved away from Europe. Retrieved January 14, 2012, from MailOnline: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2077272/Christianity-largest-religion-world-despite-shift-away-Europe.html Muslim Population. (2011, December). Muslim Polulation in the World. Retrieved January 14, 2012, from http://www.muslimpopulation.com/ Rieber, N. (2002, September 11). A Brief History of Islam. Retrieved January 14, 2012, from Bible.ca: http://www.bible.ca/islam/islam-history.htm Robinson, B. (2009, December 20). Buddhism Overview: Numbers, history, beliefs, & traditions. Retrieved January 15, 2012, from ReligousTolerance.org: http://www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism7.htm#est Robinson, B. (2009, August 16). Buddhism's core beliefs. Retrieved January 15, 2012, from ReligiousTolerance.org: http://www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism1.htm Robinson, B. (2010, November 5). Comparison of Buddhism & Christianity. Retrieved January 15, 2012, from ReligiousTolerance.org: http://www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism4.htm Robinson, B. (2011, August 5). Islam: The second largest world religion...and growing. Retrieved January 14, 2012, from ReligousTolerance.org: http://www.religioustolerance.org/islam.htm Robonson, B. (2011, March 17). Buddhism, based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. Retrieved January 15, 2012, from ReligiousTolerance.org: http://www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism.htm The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement. (n.d.). Beliefs and Practices. Retrieved January 14, 2012, from http://www.muslim.org/islam/int-is2.htm Vail, L. (1982). The Origins of Buddhism. Retrieved January 15, 2012, from Contemporary Japan: A Teaching Workbook: http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/japan/japanworkbook/religion/origins.html Read More