Islam and Vishnuism

[Guest guest]

There are some similarites b/t Visnavas and Islam. However, there is also a fundamental different! Islamic thought simply does not accept that God reincarnates as man! Vishu is suppose to have reincarnated 10 times (das avataras) ... also Lord Krishna says in the Gita that he will reincarnate whenever dharma is on the decline.

However, this is anthesis to Islamic doctrine. In Islam God is too great and he would never bring himself down to the level of man. In fact this has always been the fundamental argument b/t Christianity and Islam for centuries. Islam accpets that Jesus was a messenger and servant of God. In fact Jesus is mentioned more times than Mohammed in the Koran. However, Islam outright rejects that Jesus is God. For them it is simply inconcievable that God would - like a man - be born as a human being. That he would be in a womb of a women, he would eat etc.

 

That is why I think it is so difficult to reconcile Islam and Hinduism. It is possible to reconcile any other religions but Islam is particularly difficult because of this issue. If a Muslim were to believe in Krishna he would be, in effect, rejecting what it says in the Koran. Because the Koran makes it clear that God will not be born as a man (sura 122).

[Guest guest]

good pickup. personally though, i always thought that hindu's used the concept of 'avataar' quite loosely. they say God-incarnate, but sometimes the impression that I get is that they mean a person who was very godly in nature, for eg. ramakrishna, or the like. another example is of parashurama, who was a sage in the mountains. some hindu scripture records his life and dialogue between himself and his master. later im guessing he was regarded as an avataar. if this is the case, then we can assume it is simply a matter of interpretation.

[Guest guest]

Not all Hindus believe in incarnations of God in human form, it's mainly the Vaishnavas. Vedic reformist sects like Arya Samaj have a similar view to Islam saying God has never incarnated because he is too great and it's the Rishis (like Prophets) we should follow not incarnations, which they believe are not real gods but symbolic representations of aspectsof God.

 

There are far more differences than there are similarities between Islam and Hinduism or Vaishnavism. They can never be reconciled, but that is a good thing. It's great that within Hinduism we have many diverse paths as people are different and there is a path for every type of individual at different spiritual levels.