Blog Post #49 -Five Major Religions Part 2 (Islam and Hinduism) -

     Today in class we did more notes on the Five Major Religions. The second major religion is is called Islam. The number of adherents is 1.5 billion which is the second largest religion in the world. We call them Muslims. This religion is located in Indonesia,  the Middle East, and North Africa. The denominations of Islam are Sunnis (75-90%) and Shiites (10-20%). The founder was Muhammad (570-632). Their holy book is the Qur'an (Koran). Their beliefs are monotheistic and Abrahamic. The first one is that there are five pillars (testimony, prayer, alms-giving, fasting, and pilgrimage). The second one is that Muslims see their purpose in life as serving and submitting to Allah (God), and observing Islamic Law. The third major religion is called Hinduism. The number of adherents is 1.1 billion which is the third largest religion in the world. We call them Hindus. This religion is located in India, and Nepal. Their holy book is the Vedas- eternal truths revealed to ancient sages. This book is composed in verse form (meant to be sung and easily memorized). Hinduism has no founder. It is a series of intellectual or philosophical points of view, rather than a rigid, strict set of beliefs. It is probably the oldest extant religion, although Hinduism is less a religion than a way of life, or a faith. For example, "As a person puts on new clothes and discards old and turn clothes, similarly an embodied soul enters new material bodies, leaving the old bodies." This is an example of reincarnation, which is what the Hindus believe in.