Essay on Sikhism

Sikhism is one of the world's religions. It traces its roots to the Punjab state in the sixteenth century. During this time, there were two major rival religions in Punjab; Islam and Hinduism. Guru Nanak Sahib contemplated a religion that harmonized Hinduism and Islam which would contain good points from each side shutting down their inequalities. As a result, he came up with Sikhism, a religion rooted in oneness and love with religious freedom being emphasized. Although Sikhism was a religion that gathered good points from both Hindus and Islam and may share some similarities with these religions, it also differed with them in various aspects of life such as social make up and hierarchies, structures of authority and relationship with local and imperial powers, the rituals and rhythms of daily life and special ceremonies.

The Sikhism, Hindus, and Islam that inhabited the Punjab state in the sixteenth century had similarities as well as differences in their social makeup and hierarchies. In the three religions, the family was important social status. In Sikhism, the family was the household stage of life where parents acted as providers for their children and no parent was allowed to opt out of the responsibility to look after children even if it was for a spiritual goal. Similarly, in Islam and Hindus, parents took care of the children and provided for their needs. However, whereas Sikhism was an egalitarian religion whereby men and women were equal in prayer rights, Hindus, and Islam, both, considered hierarchies in their religion with such classifications as priest class where men were mostly considered to lead prayers. Hierarchies were not important in Sikhism as the focus was on oneness and equality for the people. Also, diet was an important social aspect of life in the religions around Punjab. Whereas Hindus and Islam showed a selection of meat to be eaten and that was prohibited as a sign of offense against other living creatures or cleanliness of the animal, the Sikhism religion allowed its members to enjoy the meat of every animal they admired as long as it was not slaughtered for ritual reasons.

Moreover, Sikhism shared similarities and some differences with Hindus and Islam regarding the structures of authority and relationships with the local and imperial powers. Sikhism religion emphasized the importance of God in the creation of the world and as the only One to guide authenticity, relevance, sanction and direction of spiritual and moral life. This meant that man had to establish structures of authority and relationships with other powers in ways guided by spiritual and moral means that pleased God. In this sense, religion and politics were closely related which was an aspect of Islam as well as Hindus that associated leadership with religion. Nonetheless, the structures of authority in Sikhism recognized women and the importance of equality in leadership, a concept which was not familiar with the Hindus and Islam who believed authority belonged to men. Sikhism authorities also were unique in the way they related with imperial powers because they rejected and fought what they termed as Moghal Imperialism'. This was stimulated by strong believe in equality among all people which made Sikhism not to understand why others should exercise imperialism. Sikhism stood against political oppression and built its authorities to empower the disenfranchised. Other religions like Hindus did not have serious negative relationships with imperial powers and did not fight against them.

The Sikhism, as well as other religious groups in the sixteenth century Punjab, practiced some rituals that were almost similar but differed in others. The Sikhism practiced Khandey Di Pahul (initiation ceremony into the Khalsa "brotherhood". Islam practiced circumcision (Sunnat) as an initiation into manhood. However, the major difference between Sikhism and other religions like Hindus and Islam was the rituals of sacrifices. Sikhism did not believe in rituals such as animal burnt offerings or sacrifices, omens, pilgrimages, and fasts because they believed that people would meet with God through pure love towards Him. On the contrary, Hindus exercised several rituals such as yajna which involved sacrifices to their gods. Also, Islam offered sacrifices to God and even fasted as a special prayer.

Furthermore, the members of Sikhism religion practiced several special ceremonies which were similar to those of other religions, but some differed. For example, Sikhism, Hindus, and Islam had naming, marriage, and death ceremonies. Nonetheless, Sikhism practiced baptism which was known as Amrit where one took an oath to become a purified person. Hindus did not have such a ceremony which made it unique to Sikhism in the Punjab villages.

Conclusion

Evidently, life in Sikhism villages and towns of the sixteenth century Punjab, although shared similarities with certain aspects of other religious communities, differed significantly. Both Sikhism members and those from other religious communities shared some social makeup similarities such as the importance of the family as a social structure and rituals such as naming and marriage ceremonies. However, Sikhism members were unique in aspects of equality, hierarchies, and authority. In Sikhism religion men and women are equal, and each gender could lead in prayers as well as political leadership. Human beings were equal, and no one was allowed to oppress another.

Bibliography

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