Understanding Differences Between Islam, Christianity, Baha'i and Hinduism

The world's population is divided into different segmented spiritual beliefs that people hold dear. The spiritual beliefs are formed and shaped by some of the world's religions that currently exist. Although this list is not exhaustive in its listing of all world religions, some notable ones are Islam, Christianity, Baha'i and Hinduism.

Islam
Individuals that practice the Islamic faith are also known as Muslims. Muslims believe in the existence of one God, named Allah, with one main Messenger of God to be Mohamed. They believe that all of the prophets of God in existence up until the time of Mohammed, including Abraham, Moses, Job and Jesus Christ. Their holy literature or scriptures is called the Qur'an and is said to be a word-for-word dictation of the revelation that God gave Mohammed over a 23 year time frame. Islamic worshipers believe that there will be a day of judgment with personal accountability to God and modest dress, which is why some Muslim women wear head coverings as part of their daily lives. There are five pillars of living that help a Muslim stay on the spiritual course. These include praying at five different times of day, faith, concern for the poor and needy, purifying one's self and making a pilgrimage to Makkah if a person is able to do so.

Christianity
Christianity shares similar beliefs of Islam and there is some controversy over what Christians believe versus what Muslims believe. Christianity uses the holy Bible as their sacred scriptures which contains the stories of Abraham, Moses, Job and Jesus Christ. Christians believe in one supreme God with Jesus Christ having paved the way for eternal salvation by death on the cross approximately 2,000, years ago. Christians believe also in a day of judgment before God and moderate dress, but do not require head covering for women and that the only way to have eternal life with God is through by believing that Jesus Christ died for a person's sins and then confessing that out loud. There are many smaller denominations within Christianity that hold to these basic tenants of beliefs, but differ in the structure of ordination procedures, church leadership issues and required dress or customary habits during a worship service, such as when to sing or when to pray.

Baha'i
The Baha'i religion, according to their main website, claims it is one of the world's youngest religions but is considered to be major because of a quick and large following. The Baha'i worshipers believe that all differing religions are as a result of one supreme God that provided manifestations of beliefs based on the time and era of the needs of humanity at each time. They believe all of the sacred writings from all of the religions to be valid and support each person's right and duty to seek out truth on his or her own. It is also said that humanity exists in different stages and that each religion, regardless of the kind, is used to point people closer to the full revelation of the who the Creator is. Baha'i worshipers believe that the concepts of heaven and hell are but different progresses of a spiritual journey of learning and knowing God in the afterlife. If a soul is far from God, that would be considered "hell," similarly if a soul is closer to God, than that would be "heaven."

Hinduism
Hinduism embraces a wide set of beliefs and different types of practices. For example, some people considered Hindu worship more than one god, some only worship one and others worship the concept of "self" in the form of seeking "enlightenment" through the practices of yoga and meditation. The main belief sets of most Hindus involve believing in the sacred writings, in which the texts also vary among manuscripts, the belief in enlightenment in one way or another, the belief in reincarnation and the belief of karma. In other words, they believe not only what goes around comes around, but when you die, you will be reincarnated into either something lesser or something greater in your next life depending on how you behave in this life. Hinduism claims to have no set founder and no set date of beginning.