The Concept of God in Hinduism

By Editorial Staff

The true perception of divinity, attributes of God and realities of the unseen world depends essentially on divine revelation. No doubt, human mind also leads to the confession of the existence of an entity that has created the universe.

Allah, the Almighty, says:

We will show them Our Signs in the universe, and in their own selves, until it becomes manifest to them that this (the Qur’ân) is the truth. (Fussilat 41:53)

Divinity and Mind

Human mind has a significant role in understanding and perception of the Attributes of God in the light of revelation. Also, it examines the reality and truth of the miracles shown by a person claiming to be a Prophet. Human sense helps knowing what is appropriate regarding Allah, the Almighty, and what is inappropriate for Him. It guides to what is acceptable in the personalities of Apostles and Prophets and what is unacceptable for them. An ordinary person concludes by his simple mind that God is not like His Creation; God is Unique, Matchless and Beyond Compare. It is impossible for God to be a lier, cheater or impudent. Everyone of us can assert that Prophets and Messenger of Allah do not lie or deceive. A mannerless or impolite individual cannot be a true Prophet.

On the contrary, the Hindu scriptures present for gods and Avtars a definition and picture that do not suit a normal human being, not to mention the Prophets and God.  These scriptures describe God, Prophets and Apostles with adultery, theft, lying and immorality, which indicates that these scriptures are distorted and fake as it contradicts the mind, logic and wisdom.¹

Ideological Deviation through the History

I think that followers of different religions have failed to use their mind in the examination of the Attributes of Allah, the Almighty, and they fell short to understand the characteristics and qualities of a Prophet or a Messenger. Thus, they became prey of deviant ideas and perverted philosophies that had long-term negative effects on human society throughout the human history. The same happened with Hinduism.

Faith in One God has been the origin and base since the beginning of human life on this earth, and then people began to portray the One God in different forms, shapes and manifestations according to His Qualities and Actions that they had imagined for Him.

Some people believe that God pervades everything in this world, whether low or high, pure or dirty, living thing or nonliving thing. They believe that God manifests into a multitude of manifestations and forms.

Some Hindus regard a particular animal or person as a manifestation of Brahman. And the result was that many of their spiritual mentors, religious leaders, imaginary manifestations and fanciful forms of God turned into original gods and were worshipped like God itself. And thus, they got deviated from the true monotheism, which is the heart of the message of all prophets and messengers. Thereupon, paganism originated in the human community and spread among the people. Still the worship of images and statues is on the rise steadily in various parts of India between various castes of Hindu society. In Bengal, the idol of Kali Durga is worshiped, in Kashmir, Shiva, his wife Parvati and their child Ganesh (the elephant god) are regarded as gods and their idols are worshipped.  In Delhi and other Indian states, Hanuman (the monkey god) and Krishna are worshipped.

Tribes of  Rajput worship Ram Chandr, who is considered as a manifestation of Vishnu. Vaishas worship the idol of goddess Lakshmi. While the Outcasts and some depressed castes adore their heroes and leaders, many of them worship other objects such as the rising sun, snake, Peepal tree, etc. Most Hindus believe that their sins are wiped out completely when they dive in Ganga River. After all, we find a great philosophical religion that had believed in One God during its early stages, turned its higher concepts about God and His attributes to an abhorrent idolatry. This philosophy created independent idols and deity instead of Allah, the Almighty, believing that Absolute and Omniscient Allah pervades everything including Ram Shandr, and Krishna, etc.²

But the question is if God pervades everything, then why are only particular persons and objects worshipped without others? If they answer that all objects should be worshipped because God pervades everything, then the question is: is the age of an individual sufficient for worshipping all objects of the world? Does human sense permit the worship of an animal or nonliving object by a dignified and honored person? Someone may argue that God has manifested in some objects or individuals so they are worshipped. Yet,  we should remember that God is Unseen and thus everyone can claim that God has manifested in his body. How can we judge that he is truthful or liar?Every person can claim the divinity for himself. However, some Hindu religious sects in the modern era tried to return to the monotheism by abolishing the phenomenon of idol worship, like Arya Samaj.

I would like to point out here that Hinduism has many differences and disputes in the perception of divinity, but there are two most popular sects in Hinduism in modern times: the followers of Sanatan Dharm and the second is Arya Smaj. Each doctrine is different from the other in the perception of divinity. The ideology of Sanatan Dharm varies from that of Arya Smaj.

Arya Samaj believes that, in essence, Parmeshvar is one but He manifests and appears in a human form or pervades bodies of spiritual and perfect individuals who are called “Avtar”.

On the basis of this doctrine, they worship Shiva, Barahma, Mahaish and the like; because they were pervaded by God. In addition, they worship the sun, elephant, snake, cow, Peepal tree, Ganga and Yamuna rivers, as they -from their point of view- deserve worship because God has manifested into them and they got divinity.

The second sect or Sanatan Dharm believes in other deities whom they regard as the manifestations of God. They make statues and idols for them, supposing that the number of gods exceeds 330 million.³

Perhaps, this huge number of god and goddess indicates that each being of this universe is among the Hindu gods and goddess.

In Hinduism, the attributes and qualities of God are deceptive. Also, the nature of prophethood and messengership is undefined and obscure in Hindu culture. That’s why Hindus commonly misunderstand the human nature of prophethood and the issue of divine revelation; they confuse the Prophets with God. Some spiritual leaders were worshipped by Hindu brothers due to this confusion.

On the other hand, Islam is very clear in asserting that prophets are entirely human. Yet, Islam declares that Prophets and Messengers were guided by divine revelation and were supported by Allah with miracles. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the last Messenger of Allah according to Islam.

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[1]`Abdullah, Tuhfatul Hind, Delhi 1309. P.8. The book contains a lot of references from Hindu scriptures. It is noteworthy that the writer was a Hindu priest and embraced Islam being impressed by Islamic teachings. After his conversion, he wrote the book entitled Tuhfatul Hind in refutation of Hindu faith in the light of Hindu scriptures.

[2] Mohammed Yamin Khan, God, Soul and Universe in Science and Islam,  Sh.Muhammad Ashraf, Kashmir Bazar, Lahore, p. 3. and Abul Hasan `Ali An-Nadwi, Maza khasir Al-`Alam bi-Inhitat Al-Muslimeem, Maktabat Al-Iman, Al-Mansurah, Egypt, p.49.

[3] Khawajah Hasan Nizami, Islami Tawheed, Shahjahani Press Delhi, India, 1924, pp. 19-20-21.

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