interesting article about similarities between religens
Among the thousand names of Vishnu are also Shoonya (zero) and Ananta (infinity). The movement of a seeker after truth, as Swami Vivekanand put it, is not from error to truth, but rather from one truth to another, until he reaches the end of all knowledge, vedanta, to arrive at a consciousness of truth and bliss. This is sat-chit-ananda: the state of truth-consciousness-bliss. This is Godhood. One who realises it cannot define it; he can only point towards it or suggest it - through sahasranama.
The Gracious Names Of Allah lists the various names of Allah occurring in the holy Qu’ran. It is interesting how similar the names or appellations of Allah are to those of Vishnu in the Vishnu Sahasranamam. Allah, as the Paramatma, is Al-Ahad, The One or Eka. He is Al-Quddus, the Holy One (Pavitram), Ar-Rahman, The Beneficent (Varadaya), Al’Maalik, The Lord (Prabhu), Al’Aziz, The Mighty One (Mahaveera), Al’Alim, The All-knowing (Sarvagya). He is Al’Khaliq, The Creator (Srishta) and Al’Musawwir, One who fashions all things (Vishwakarma). He is Al’Hakam, The Judge (Vidhatre), who is Al’Adl, The Just (Nyaya). Al’Latif, The Subtle One (Sookshma), Al’Kabir, The Great (Mahaan http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Islam_and_Hinduism/id/50222
In the Sahasranama there is a whole series of expressions with the negative particle prefixed as the names of Visnu: aksarah (17), aksaram (481), the immutable witness of all change; acalah (745), the unmoving; the immovable; ajah (95) the unborn; amurtih (830), the Formless; amurtiman (720), the One having no form; avyaktah (722), the Unmanifest; avyayah (13), the Unchanging; aprameyah (46), that which is uncognisable through means of knowledge; ameyatma (102), the immeasurable; agrahyah (55) the ungraspable; adrsyah (304), the unseeable; atindriyah (169), that which is beyond the reach of the senses; aeintyah (832), the unthinkable.
Muslim regards Kaba as sacred. Though the Muslim does not agree on the Hindu Idol Worship, he sees eye to eye with the Hindu on formless god and the sacred stone (Kaba for the Muslim and Salagrama for the Hindu). The Yogi has gone beyond idols and sacred texts and concentrates his mind on formless Brahman. Imagine concentrating your mind on something that is not a palpable entity to the mental eye; that comes easy to the Yogi but not to the ordinary people. They need an image to concentrate, meditate and worship.
u r perhaps misled into thinking this way....
the only stone that cud be worth mention there is the hajr-e-aswad....
and its importance is well illustrated by the saying of the second khalifa, Umar (ra), who when performing hajj, said to the stone "u r just a stone and can bring no good or bad to anyone.... and if the Prophet (saw) wud not have kissed u, i wud not have even looked at u"....
(was something in the same meaning, dont have the exact quote so pardon me for that)
matty, the latter day religions r not cut and paste...
they come from the same divine source and hence r most naturally bound to be similar....
Muhammad (saw) himself confirmed that he is not bringing a new religion, just a completion of the religion that started with the very first man and has been preached by all prophets of Allah....
Interesting as this may be, and yes it does make one think that obviously a lot of religions are an offshoot of Islam (as preached by Nooh (as)), from my understanding it is incorrect to call Allah (swt) by names other than the names he has specified for himself, and specially not with names which are given to other god(s) such as brahma, wallahu alim.
I'll look and see where I read this, but even in arabia before Prophet Muhammad (saws), the pagans had names like al-laat, and al-uzza for their gods, however these names were not adopted by Islam rather Al-Ilaah, and Al-Azeez were adopted.
there are lot symbolism and ritual involved all religens
Each Moslem has the duty to make this pilgrimage once in his lifetime, to visit Mecca, and to walk around the Kaaba - a cubic building - seven times. Then, he has to pause at the southeast corner of the Kaaba to complete the ritual, touching or kissing the Hadschar, also known as “Yamin Allah”, meaning “the right hand of God”. Tradition says that this stone is a betyl, a meteorite that was given to Abraham by the archangel Gabriel. That stone also played a most important role in the life of Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, who immured it into the wall at the southeast corner of the Kaaba.
The Hadsch is a rather strange ritual since Islam prohibits the worship and veneration of objects, but it seems that this tradition is much older than Islam itself. The Hadschar might be a true betyl, a real meteorite, since it is said to have a black crust and a light-gray interior. However, it might also represent a rather large Wabar pearl, a meteorite related impact glass that is found in central Saudi Arabia, not that far from Mecca. It’s a pity that scientists haven’t solved the mystery surrounding this sacred stone, but for normal religious reasons it has not been allowed. Wouldn’t it be great to know that there is at least one ancient betyl left, and that it is still venerated after more than perhaps 2,000 years? >> top… http://www.meteorite.fr/en/basics/history.htm
It is not sacred in the sense that it has neither any benifit to anyone, nor any harm. It is just a symbol. And any gesture that Muslims perform towards it during the pilgrimage is purely symbolic.
isnt the kabba considered gods house so when you pray to god you are facing his house and not some other random object. im not sure about it i might be wrong.
the kabba's stone isnt sacred because it has been rebuilt many times.
lol … the stone hasn’t been re-built many times, the Ka’ba itself has been rebuilt several times since the time of Adam.
And every mosque is considered God’s house (as are all churches in Christianity). It doesn’t mean that God lives there literally. The ‘facing Ka’ba while praying’ phenomenon is a symbolic act which helps promote uniformity in worship (beside other things).
