Welcome to the “Comparing Religions Project”. This project is all about you exploring (at least) two of the three world religions: Hinduism, Judaism and Islam.
The handout telling you what you need to do it here.
Resources:
Follow the links below to get information on each of the different “themes”…
When two people are joined together there are many special things to do!
Hinduism:
Because Hinduism is not a strict set of rules are there loads of different things they can do, many show lots of different things about the religion. Have a look at this document. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book 3, page 62.
Judaism:
Jewish weddings are colourful occasions with dancing and singing. They usually take place under a little canopy (like a gazebo) called a chuppah, which symbolises the new home the husband and wife will create together. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book 3, page 58, or you can find lots of information here.
Islam
Muslim weddings are often arranged by the parents, although this does not mean the child has no say. After the formalities there is often a big party that goes on for days! For more information look at New Steps in RE Book 3, page 60.
When a new person comes into the world religions do things to mark the event…
Hinduism
Hindus do lots of things around the birth of a baby, some even before the baby is born! The baby has a horoscope reading, the Hindu symbol is drawn on the baby’s tongue with honey and there is a special naming ceremony. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book 3, page 36. You can also find lots of information here.
Judaism
When Jewish boys are born they are circumcised to show obedience to God’s laws. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book 3, page 32.
Islam
When a Muslim baby is born the first thing the father does is whisper the “Shahadah” into the child’s ear so these are the first words they hear. They also shave the baby’s head, say prayers and do various other things. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book 3, page 34.
The way people worship God tells us a lot about the religion.
Hinduism
Hindus do meet in a temple (called a Mandir), but actually Hinduism is unusual in that most worship takes place in the home. Most Hindu homes have a shrine (special place) dedicated to their favourite god. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book 2, page 56.
Judaism
Jews worship in a Synagogue. Their Holy Day starts on Friday evening and finishes on Saturday evening. Many Jews will meet together in the Synagogue on Friday night for prayers and songs and to share together. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book 2, page 52.
Islam
Muslims worship together in a Mosque. Prayer (salah) is held five times a day here and particularly on Friday Muslims try to gather together for prayer. Before going into a Mosque Muslims remove their shoes and wash their feet as a sign of respect for Allah. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book 2, page 54.
Each religion has its own Holy Books. These form the basis of what religious people believe about the world and God.
Hinduism:
There are variety of Hindu holy books, which often take the form of stories and teachings. They were written over many years and no-one really knows who put them together or wrote them. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book 2, page 36.
Judaism:
The Jewish Holy Book is written in Hebrew often called the Tenakh, which is short for Torah, Nevi’im (prophets) and Ketuvim (writings). The Torah is the most important bit, as it goes from creation of the world to the law being given. The whole thing was written over hundreds of years by a variety of different people. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book 2, page 32.
Islam
The Qur’an is central to Muslim belief. They believe that God dictated it to Muhammad, so every word in it is the Word of God. It is written in Arabic and treated with the utmost respect. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book 2, page 34.
All of these religions have a belief in God, but there are similarities and differences…
Hinduism:
Hindus only believe in one God (called Brahman). However, Brahman appears in many different forms, and so Hindus have thousands of gods, each showing a different part of Brahman’s personality. Hindus often make statues or pictures of these different gods. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book 3, page 24.
Judaism:
Jews only believe in one God (this is called monotheism). God cannot be seen but can communicate with humans in a variety of ways. The God of Judaism is called “Yahweh” (or Jehovah) and he chose the Jews people to be his special group. Jews believe that it is wrong to make pictures of Yahweh God. Mainly because God says so in the Ten Commandments, but partly because God cannot be compared to anything in the world. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book 3, page 20.
Islam
The Muslim faith comes out of the Jewish faith, so they also believe that there is only one God (who they call Allah – the Arabic word for God). They also have 99 “names” for Allah, which are all descriptions of his personality (eg. The Almighty, The Creator). Like Jews, Muslims believe it is wrong to make images of God. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book 3, page 22.
The key ideas in a religion tell us what’s important for the religion and so help us to understand them.
Hinduism
“Dharma” is one of the key concepts in Hinduism. This means the “duty” which all living things have. Eg. A policeman has a duty to look after the public and fight crime, a worm has a duty to plough up the earth and make it fertile. Everyone’s dharma is slightly different, and in order for a community to work properly everyone needs to do their own duty. Note that the importance of dharma affects the whole community, not just the person.
Judaism
A key belief in Judaism is that the Jews are a group of people chosen by God. Therefore a lot of what they do is linked to them as a community. This is why they have a special Seder meal every year to remember how their community was brought out of slavery – they treat the meal as if they had been brought out of slavery themselves. The key belief is about community.
Islam
The key beliefs of Islam are captured in the Five Pillars of Islam. These are:
Shahadah – The declaration of faith: “There is no God but God and Allah is his prophet”. All Muslims believe this.
Salah – Prayer 5 times a day. All Muslims try to do this and when they go to the Mosque they pray together side by side.
Zakah – Giving to charity. Muslims recognise that everything they have is given by God. They give 2.5% of their money to charity to say thankyou to God and help poorer people in the community.
Sawm – Fasting during the month of Ramadan. Muslims do not eat or drink while the sun is in the sky for one month a year. This helps them to come closer to Allah. Many Muslims come together at the end of the day to have a feast when the fasting finishes.
Hajj – The journey Muslims take to Mecca once in their life. This journey helps them to focus on God and come closer to him. Many Muslims do this every year and this develops a sense of the worldwide Muslim community.
Note that all of these 5 things develop the sense of community in the religion.
The ways in which religions start tell us quite a lot about them. This is therefore a useful theme to start your essay with.
Hinduism
The interesting thing about Hinduism is that no-one really knows much about how it started. It probably started some time around 3000BCE (5,000 years ago) but no-one really knows how or why. It is more of a culture than a religion. In fact the name “Hindu” comes from the area in which Hinduism started. The fact that Hinduism doesn’t really have a “founder” makes it unique among world religions.
Judaism
We’ve looked at the story of Abraham in class. He heard from God to go to a new place to start a new religion and he did it. No-one’s exactly sure when this happened, but it was around 2,000BCE (4,000 years ago). For more information look at New Steps in RE Book One, page 20.
Moses is regarded as the other man who started Judaism. It was him who brought the Israelites (Jews) out of Egypt where they were slaves and he was given the Ten Commandments by God. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book One, page 22.
Note that it is quite unusual for a religion to have two founders.
Islam
Unlike the other two we know exactly when Islam started: 610CE (AD). Muhammad was visited by an angel of God and told what to have written down. This became the Qu’ran and Islam started from then. Unlike the other two there is a definite founder of Islam and we know quite a lot about him. For more information look at New Steps in RE Book One, page 24.
