A Comparative Study on Hindu and Islamic Anthropology
- Author:
- Maryam Mahdavipour
- Level:
- Master
- Subject(s):
- Non-Abrahamic religions
- Language:
- Farsi
- Faculty:
- Faculty of Religions
- Year:
- 2015
- Publisher:
- URD Press
- Supervisor(s):
- Ali Movahhedian Attar
- Advisor(s):
- Alireza Ebrahim
In the view of the teachings of Islam and Hinduism in spite of structural differences between them there are similarities in the essence and content regarding their teachings in the fields of ontology, theology and anthropology in the two intellectual systems. One of this similarity is the dimensions of the existence of human being. As per some sources of Hinduism we can enumerate five realms for human being which are as follows: 1- Food sheath (Annamayakosha) 2- Vital sheath (Pranamayakosha) 3- Mind sheath (Manomayakosha) 4- Understanding sheath (Vijnanamayakosha) 5- Bliss sheath (Anandamayakosha). Similar to above five realms there are similar realms mentioned in the Islamic sources. 1- Body 2- Spirit of Life 3- The Spirit of Power and Passion 4- The Spirit of Belief 5- The Sacred Soul. With due attention to the characteristics in the teachings of Islam and Hinduism about these realms, real and deep consistency is established between these five Islamic realms and five Hindu realms. As per the doctrines of Hinduism these five stratums are the conditions of Atman (Supreme Soul) as the reality of the Supreme Being and with its determination the Jiva (individual Soul) takes its shape. As per the Islamic sources these dimensions results in the reality of being and manifestation of the human reality. In the reflections of consistency of these five dimensions with each other a meaningful similarity is observed between Atman and Jiva in the doctrine of anthropology in Hinduism and the Supreme Being and the conditional being or individual person in explaining the relation between truth, reality and creation in the Islamic doctrines. Moreover, the explanation of Islamic teachings and Hindu beliefs regarding the stages of being have great similarities with each other and classification of being in four stages by both the intellectual systems discovers consistency in their teachings in the field of knowing the being and which also bring more proximity in the field of anthropology between the two religions because both these doctrines consider human being as the Alam-e-Sagheer (microcosm) and also the reflection and mirror of the Supreme Being which also manifests all the stages of Alam-e-Kabeer (macrocosm) in itself.