Zakir Naik – Classification of Religions
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the definition of religion and how it can be difficult to understand the context of the word "slack." He uses a verse from the Quran to explain the meaning of religion and how it can be difficult to understand the context of the word "slack." He also discusses the major world realizeencing groups and their origins, including religion, religion, and nonVedic religion.
AI: Summary ©
Religion,
according to the Oxford dictionary means
a belief
in a superhuman controlling power, a personal God
or gods that deserve worship and obedience.
So religion means
belief in God.
I start the talk
by quoting
a verse from the Quran
from Surah Al Imran chapter number 3
verse number 64 which says,
so people love the
book.
Come to common terms
as between us and you. Which is the
first term Allah
that we worship none but Allah.
That we associate or partners with him.
That we erect not among ourselves.
Lord and peace other than Allah. Find our
law. And then they turn back.
Say you bear witness. Then a Muslim moon
that we are Muslims
bowing our will to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
This was of the glorious Quran according to
me is the master key for doing dawah.
It says,
come to common terms as when
we are speaking with non Muslims,
the best is let us come to common
terms
with the other people.
And amongst all the terms, the most important
point
is Allah
that we worship none but one Allah.
In order
to understand
the concept of God in any religion, the
best is to try and understand
what the scriptures
of that religion has to speak about God.
If you understand the concept of God by
observing what the followers of religion are doing,
it is not appropriate because many a times
the followers themselves
do not know what is mentioned in the
authentic scriptures of those religion.
So the best
and the most appropriate method
of understanding
the concept of God in any region is
to try and understand
what the authentic scriptures
of that religion have to speak about God.
The major world religions
can be broadly divided into semitic religions
and non semitic religions.
The non semitic religions are further divided into
Aryan religion and non Aryan religion.
The Aryan religion are further divided into Vedic
and non Vedic religion.
The Semitic religions
are those religions
that are followed by the Semites.
The descendants
of Shem, the son of Noah who is
also mentioned in the Bible
in the book of Genesis chapter number 5
to 11.
So the Semitic religions are those religions that
are followed by the Semites,
followed by the Jews, the Arabs, the Assyrians
who speak the language
Hebrew, Arabic,
Assyrian, Phoenician.
The major among the semitic religions are Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam. And all of these religions,
they are prophetic religions.
The non semitic religions are further divided into
aryan religions and non aryan religion.
The aryan religions are those religions that are
followed by a powerful group of
Indo European people
that spread
in Europe
and North Indian.
And the Aryan religion are further divided into
Vedic religion and non Vedic religion.
The Vedic religion has been given the misnomer
of Hinduism
or Brahminism.
It should actually
be Vedantist
according to Swami Vivekananda.
But the people call those who follow the
Vedic religion
as Hinduism
or Brahminism, but the more appropriate name is
Vedantist.
The Aryan religions of non with the origins
are Buddhism,
Sikhism,
Jainism, Parsiism, etcetera.
The non aryan religions are divided into
the
where they originate from.
For example, those that originated from China,
that is Confucianism,
Daoism,
those that originated from Japan, Shintoism, etcetera.
But most of these
non other religion,
they do not have a concept of God.
That's the reason they're referred more to as
ethical systems.
So today in my talk, I'll be mainly
discussing about Semitic religions and non Semitic religions
of Aryan origin.