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Posted by paramdeep singh | Friday, January 29, 2010 | 0 comments

Question 12: What is the attitude of Sikhism towards other religions?

Sikhism discredits no religion. According to Sikhism all religions orginated with good intentions and are like different roads leading to the same destination. The Gurus clearly stated the futility of entering into argument regarding the veracity and practicability of the ideas expressed by other religious leaders. They encouraged their followers instead to cultivate a rational attitude and find out for themselves what is right and what is wrong. Guru Granth Sahib is full of such instruction as:- "Call not the Vedas and the Semitic books false. Rather he is false who lacks the ability to rationalise." However the Gurus have very clearly stated their own point of view on matters where they differed and disagreed with other religions. As a testimony to their all-embracing, egalitarian approach to religion. Guru Nanak kept a Muslim with him all his life and visited the holy places of other religions. Guru Arjan had great affection for a Muslim saint, Mian Mir, who laid the foundation stone of the holiest temple of the Sikhs at Amritsar. To crown it all, Guru Arjan included the Hymns of many Hindu and Muslim saints in the Holy Granth, caring little for their caste, social standing and religion. Saint Budhu Shah was a staunch Muslim Faqir and yet he was an intimate friend of Guru Gobind Singh. He had his sons and other relatives butchered in trying to help the Guru in the teeth of Muslim tyranny and bigotry. Nabi Khan and Ghani Khan risked their lives and carried the Guru in a palanquin from one place to another at a time when the penalty of expressing the faith in the Guru was death for all the family and relatives. The Gurus laid stress on the purity of thought word and deed and rejected ritualism and unrealistic blind faith.

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