Jewish Fundamentalism

Shahak, Israel & Norton Mezvinsky. Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel. Sterling, VA: Pluto Press, 1999, 168 pp.

“When our forces come across civilians during a war or in hot pursuit or in a raid, so long as there is no certainty that those civilians are incapable of harming our forces, then according to Halakah [Jewish law] they may and even should be killed…. Under no circumstances should an Arab be trusted, even if he makes an impression of being civilized…. In war, when our forces storm the enemy, they are allowed and even enjoined by the Halakah to kill even good civilians….”[i]

Central Region Command of the Israeli army

Violent, religious extremism, at least according to a large portion of Western media and political pundits, is characterized almost exclusively as a trend practiced by Muslims today. It is therefore appropriate to review a book that, although published in 1999, is a timeless testimony to the power of prophetic polemics and their belligerent strains.

Israel Shahak was no stranger to conflict. He and his mother escaped the Nazis; but lost his father to a concentration camp. He served in the Israeli military, witnessing the devastation of occupation and war. Schooled in the sciences, he became a significant force in the quest for democracy and human rights; and, with his death in 2001, the world lost an important voice of reason. Shahak penned this work with Norton Mezvinsky, a history professor and expert on Jewish fundamentalism and Zionism, who has renounced his "right of return" to Israel; and continues to advocate a peaceful resolution to the Palestinian Israeli conflict.

Although these two men reflect the views of numerous Jews around the world, one’s hopes are truly put to the test after reading this authoritative work. They leave no room to doubt the negative effect that Zionism, Jewish fundamentalists, and the rabbis that lead them, have not only on Israeli society, but on the international community.

Judaism, despite its extreme manifestations, is a misunderstood religion; and this book underscores why many Jews seek solace in secular environments, and why there is a significant reform movement within the faith. That is not to say the reader will walk away with a clear understanding of the subject matter. Jewish fundamentalism in all its forms is merely one part of the Jewish tapestry; and its threads are intertwined within every sociopolitical element of world Jewry. Fundamentalists, like Zionists, can neither be compartmentalized nor can the lay reader hope to fully appreciate the complexity of Jewish exegeses, especially with regard to divergent rabbinical interpretations. They, for example, object to Zionism yet have at times compromised in favor of it; and, their opposition to this ideology is not for altruistic reasons. Nevertheless, the authors’ work is admirable for opening a window into this mystical world; and, in fact, it is unlikely that any other commentator could achieve the same degree of relative lucidity.

The authors’ methodology is a key determinant of their ability to help shed light on the subject. The most important factor is the Hebrew source material – contemporary books and articles as well as ancient tracts – they use. The reason, they state, is:

We believe that the great majority of the books on Judaism and Israel, published in English especially, falsify their subject matter. The falsification is sometimes a result of explicitly lying but is mostly the result of omission of major facts that may create what the authors consider to be an adverse view of their subjects…. The omissions pertinent to our subject of Jewish fundamentalism exist for the same apologetic reasons as do the literary omissions in any totalitarian system (150).

The other important route they pursue is that there is no real timeline to events in this work. The authors traverse past and recent history to underscore their message; and discussions of current issues are placed within the context of Judaism’s evolution over time.

Only the first of the seven chapter headings, “Jewish Fundamentalism Within Jewish Society,” implies the book is a historic as well as contemporary analysis; yet this approach is prevalent throughout the book. Chapter 1 defines the two categories of Israeli religious Jews. First are the more extreme Haredim (lit. “fearing,” i.e., God-fearing), divided into two parties: the Yahaddut Ha’ Torah (Judaism of Law) and Shas, a party of the Oriental a.k.a Sephardic Haredim. Second, the religious-national Jews are organized in the National Religious Party (NRP), which, while deemed Jewish fundamentalist, have reconciled with Zionist ideologies in ways Haredi groups have not (for example, NRP members sing the Israeli anthem, Hatikva, at special events while other Haredim recite prayers instead).

This chapter reviews the importance of Talmudic interpretations as well as how some fundamentalists compromise their values when necessary. The reasons why Haredim do not believe in Israel as a state are explained (18-20); and seemingly trivial yet telling beliefs are also examined. According to the Halacha (lit. “accepted,” i.e. the entire body of the Jewish religious law), for example, “a Jewish male who willingly listens to a woman’s singing commits a sin equivalent either to adultery or fornication.” As a result, religious settlers recorded a male singing songs popularized by females, then digitally enhanced them to sound like women, so as not to contravene the religious ruling (9).

The more ominous precepts scrutinized, however, are Talmudic attitudes towards non-Jews, wherein “[f]or religious Jews, the blood of non-Jews has no intrinsic value; for Likud [Israel’s right wing party currently in power], it has limited value” (11). These themes — Talmudic law and attitudes toward women and non-Jews — permeate the whole book; and the authors explain how despite extreme views a minority in Israel have gained power.

“The Rise of the Haredim in Israel” (Ch. 2) seeks to answer two key questions: How have the Haredi parties secured their political influence; and what organizational structure have the Haredim employed for maximum political success. The short answer is both the effect of rabbinical opinion, even on secular Jews, and education as a strategic lever. Shahak and Mezvinsky quote earlier scholars who denounced the payment of salaries to Talmudic students; and show how rabbinical interpretation reversed this ruling, which helped secure funds for male-dominated Haredi schools (women are seen as too weak-minded to study Talmud and “a woman is a sack of excrement” (38)).

The Haredim, through a pervasive hold on their own educational curricula and influence over the nation’s system, impact Israeli broader society at all levels, including political, media and medical organizations. Since the state’s existence is based on Judaism, it is difficult, if not impossible, for Israeli officials, even at the prime ministerial level, to ignore or criticize Haredi commentary or injunctions. The authors give an example of how a Haredi Rabbi, Sheiberger, “met with senior physicians of the Israel Transplants Association and discussed with them Jewish religious prohibitions on organ donations…. He explained: ‘It is obvious that it is prohibited under any circumstances to transplant Jewish organs into Arabs, all of whom hate Jews’” (42).

The authors posit in chapter 3, “The Two Main Haredi Groups,” that an understanding of the differences among Jewish fundamentalists is important to appreciate how they have grown to influence Israeli politics. Whereas the previous chapter is an introduction to Haredi political groups, this section looks at the two categories that form Jewish fundamentalists’ identity: the Ashkenazi and the Oriental (formerly called the Sephardi, a term which is no longer relevant as it referred predominantly to the Jews of Spain, even when they moved to other regions). The authors summarize their history from around 1000 AC to the present time. The development of bitter rivalries between the groups is examined, with numerous examples including the use of curses, subterfuge and vandalism to undermine one another.

They also examine how leaders of the groups devised plans to control the behavior and even migration patterns of their flock. They present an example of the former: “[T]he head of the yeshiva [lit. “sitting,” i.e., institution for higher Talmudic studies] arranges all marriages of yeshiva students. He carefully picks the daughters of rich and pious Jews as wives for students. The better students are matched with daughters of the wealthiest parents. (The head of the yeshiva also matches daughters of rabbis with sons of the wealthiest parents)” (49). Haredi influence is not limited to their own communities, as they shaped the Zionist outlook of the predominantly Ashkenazi government of the 1950s which, for example, “induced Jewish immigration from Iraq bribing the government of Iraq to strip most Iraqi Jews of their citizenship and to confiscate their property” (47).

Chapter 4, “The National Religious Party and the Religious Settlers,” gives the clearest picture of the marriage between Israeli politics and religion. The NRP is allied with the Gush Emunim (lit. “block of faithful,” an ideological and messianic settler movement established in 1974 with a purpose of controlling Greater Israel). Together, the groups have significantly influenced both Labor and Likud policies, as well as the decision-making process of army leaders. The following excerpts are self-explanatory:

· [Shimon] Peres…initiated a new policy which he called “functional compromise” and for which he acquired Gush Emunim support. According to this policy all the land inside the West Bank and the Gaza Strip that was not being used by the inhabitants could be confiscated for the exclusive use of the Jews (57).
· [Gush Emunim rabbis establish policy based on Jewish mystical interpretation, i.e., Cabbala. They believe] non-Jews have satanic souls: ‘Souls of non-Jews come entirely from the female part of the satanic sphere. For this reason souls of non-Jews are called evil, not good, and are created without [divine] knowledge’ (58).
· The similarities between the Jewish political messianic trend and German Nazism are glaring. The Gentiles are for the messianists what the Jews were for the Nazis. The hatred of Western culture with its rational and democratic elements is common to both movements (65).
· [Gush Emunim] members argue that what appears to be confiscation of Arab-owned land for subsequent settlement by Jews is in reality not an act of stealing but one of sanctification. From their perspective the land is redeemed by being transferred from the satanic to the [divine] sphere (67).
· Relying upon the Code of Maimonides [1138 – 1204, considered the greatest philosopher of Judaism] and the Halacha, Rabbi Ariel stated: ‘A Jew who killed a non-Jew is exempt from human judgment and has not violated the [religious] prohibition of murder’ (71).

The nature of Gush Emunim and their symbiotic relationship with the NRP (who admonish their adherents to excel in the military’s combat and elite units) and the army is further explored in the next chapter, “The Nature of Gush Emunim Settlements.” They authors show the bulk of settlers are concentrated around Jerusalem; and the remaining settlements in the occupied territories are almost exclusively inhabited by religious extremists. They also show that religious fundamentalists, who constitute roughly 20% of the Israeli population, vilify secular Jews with negligible retort from politicians (although secular journalists frequently criticize the fundamentalists).

This short chapter sets the tone for the next, “The Real Significance of Baruch Goldstein.” The authors do not dwell on the ‘94 slaughter of Palestinian worshippers in Hebron. Rather, they “focus upon Goldstein’s career prior to the massacre and upon the reactions of the Israeli government and fundamentalist Jews to the massacre a short time after it occurred.” The analysis goes beyond the man to what he, and attitudes toward his kind, represents. He “exemplifies the influence of Jewish fundamentalism in Israel: long before the massacre, Goldstein as an army physician repeatedly breached army discipline by refusing to treat Arabs, even those serving in the Israeli army. He was not punished, either while in active or reserve service, for his refusal because of intervention in his favor” (96).

It is telling that a shrine was built in Goldstein’s memory; and that extremist rabbis effusively eulogized him. Rabbi Dov Lior, for example, stated that Goldstein “took action for no other reason than to sanctify the holy name of God.” Interestingly, the Israeli press had on previous occasions criticized Lior, who spoke of the Goldstein’s humanity, for “recommending that medical experiments be performed on the live bodies of Arab terrorists” (104). (It is important to note here that the authors, on several occasions in the book, emphasize that when fundamentalist refer positively to “humanity,” “men,” “human beings,” and so on, it is exclusively about Jews as non-Jews are deemed inherently satanic).

The next and final chapter looks beyond the extremes of Jew against non-Jew; and analyzes “The Religious Background of Rabin’s Assassination.” Secular Jews and the world were shocked by the first high-profile internecine act of murder; yet it was one with centuries of precedent. As with the Goldstein saga, the authors do not dwell on the murderer but on his frame of reference. In fact, chapter 7 is the most replete with historic notes, including events at Masada, which many in Judeo-Christian circles erroneously believe to have been a mass suicide to avoid persecution by Romans:

The defenders of Masada were…a band of assassins called Sikarikin, a name taken from the word for a short sword that group members hid under their robes and used to kill their Jewish opponents in crowds of people…. The Sikarikin escaped to Masada not from the Romans but from their Jewish brethren. Shortly after the rebellion against the Romans began [AC 66 – 73], the Roman army that was advancing to Jerusalem was initially defeated and had to withdraw. The Sikarikin attempted forcefully to establish their leader, Menahem, as absolute king. The Jews of Jerusalem then attacked and defeated the Sikarikin in the temple itself, killing most them including Menahim. The remaining Sikarikin escaped to Masada where they stayed during the rebellion; they did not fight the Romans but instead robbed neighboring Jewish villages…. On Passover eve in the year AD 70, another rebel leader, Yohanan of Gush Halav…dressed his soldiers as pious pilgrims…. After being admitted to the temple by the gullible Eliezer [leader of the Sikarikin] without a body search, they…pulled out their swords and slaughtered all their opponents (114/5).

This historical anecdote is followed by others through the ages to underscore the permissibility of killing Jews deemed apostates, including Yitzhak Rabin. Fundamentalist rabbis have defined a heretic as “a Jew who was disrespectful of another Jew in the presence of a rabbi” and “a Jew who called a rabbi by his name without using the honorific title” (124). Justification for the assassination is further explored via two halachic laws, din rodef (law of the pursuer) and din moser (law of the informer), which stipulate:

The first law commands every Jew to kill or to wound severely any Jew who is perceived as intending to kill another Jew…. The second law commands every Jew to kill or wound severely any Jew who, without a decision of a competent rabbinical authority, has informed non-Jews, especially non-Jewish authorities, about Jewish affairs or who has given them information about Jewish property [i.e., Greater Israel] or who has delivered Jewish persons or property to their rule or authority (136).

The authors’ main aim in this section is to highlight the risks of giving rabbinical authorities a say in Israeli politics. Drawing upon lessons of the past, they warn of:

two lessons for contemporary Jews who do not wish to submit to the tyranny often prevalent in Jewish orthodoxy: 1) An intellectual compromise with Jewish orthodoxy is no more possible than is an intellectual compromise with any other totalitarian system. 2) An apologetic approach to the Jewish past, which is in reality false beautification and falsification of one part of Jewish history and is intended to remove the horrors and persecutions that Jews suffered at the hands of their own authorities and rabbis, only increases the dangers of a developing Jewish “Khomeinism (132).

And it is on this thought that the book comes to an end. The entire work is a marvel of research and represents a unique insight into the murky world of Jewish fundamentalism. The authors undertook this impressive effort to deliver a simple message about the dangers of a theocracy. Their final words summarize their goal: “Our firm belief is that a fundamentalist Jewish regime, if it came to power in Israel, would treat Israeli Jews who did not accept its tenets worse than it would treat Palestinians. This book is an attempt to provide wider understanding of Jewish fundamentalism and hopefully help avert the danger from becoming a reality” (149).
[i] http://www.wrmea.com/archives/october01/0110071.html

An Eyeopener to Mexico

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

After her death at the age of forty-seven in 1954, the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo became first a legend, then a myth, and now a cult figure. Thus was Frida Kahlo described by her biographer Hayden Herrera in 1992. While it is sometimes difficult to separate the cult of personality surrounding Kahlo from her artistic accomplishment, it can be said without question that she is the 20th century's quintessential autobiographical artist.

By now, many of the events of her life are familiar. Born a mestizo of European and Mexican parents in 1907, Frida Kahlo cut a striking figure, with long dark hair and distinctive bird-wing brows which arched over magnetic black eyes. In 1925, at the age of 18, she was in a bus accident that seriously injured her spine, abdomen, pelvis and right foot, wounds that led to lengthy hospital stays, many operations, and, ultimately, her death. During her initial convalescence Kahlo began to paint. Over time, this artistic gift enabled her to give meaning to the physical and emotional pain she was to endure.

Most of Kahlo's works depict her personal saga: the disabilities she suffered as a result of the accident; her turbulent marriage to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera; her involvement with Communism and the Mexican Revolution; and, ultimately, her indomitable will to create. Like many artists in the decade after the Mexican Revolution of 1917, Frida Kahlo's art was influenced by the surge of nationalism known as Mexicanidad. Eschewing European models, the simple, naive character of Kahlo's imagery, the sometimes fantastic subject matter and the vividness of her colors were influenced by Mexican folk art.(2) She, herself, often wore traditional costumes and elaborately braided her hair with ribbons, bows, combs, and fresh flowers to express her identification with Mexico's indigenous culture.

This is vividly illustrated in The National Museum of Women in the Art's Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky: Between the Curtains, painted to commemorate a brief romance with the Russian revolutionary, Leon Trotsky. In 1937, Trotsky was granted political asylum in Mexico, largely due to the efforts of Diego Rivera, and lived for the following two years in Frida's house in Coyoacan. She presented the portrait to Trotsky on November 7, 1937, the anniversary of the Russian Revolution which was also Trotsky's birthday.

In this portrait, Kahlo faces her audience in a stage-like space between two curtains, a device often used in Mexican retablo, a traditional art form that depicted saints or miracles. In her version of a retablo, Kahlo transforms the usual religious theme into a depiction of exotic beauty, feminine strength and Mexican cultural identity. Curiously, as Herrera points out, the artist presents herself to the revolutionary leader in the form of a "colonial-style bourgeois or an aristocratic woman rather than as a Tehuana or a political activist."(3) Clearly meant as an offering to her former lover, she holds a small bouquet of flowers in one hand, and in the other a letter inscribed: "For Leon Trotsky with all my love I dedicate this painting on the 7th November, 1937."

Baha'i

Religion founded in 19th century, growing out of Babism.In 1844 Mirza Ali Muhammad declared himself Bab, The guide to drive for the truth.

He also proclaimed that 19 years later an even greater manifestation would come..

Then in 1863, Mirza Hussayn Ali Nuri saw himself as the promise made by Bab.Mirza Hussayn had at first been a follower of Bab, but took the name Baha'ullah at the death of Bab in 1850. Soon after the followers of Bab faced the first persecutions, with the killing of 20,000 by the Persian governments in 1852, and expulsion of Baha'ullah to Baghdad. But the Ottoman Empire which controlled Baghdad, did not treat him much better, and he, his family and followers finally ended up in Acre in Palestine (now in northern Israel)While the group of Baha'ullah was known as belonging to Babism for a long time after the death of Bab, it changed in 1863 when Baha'ullah declared himself the promised manifestation of God. In Baha'i this manifestation is considered the latest in God's manifestations, of which Zarathustra, Buddha (Buddhism), Krishna (Hinduism) Jesus and Muhammad represent other prominent ones.

Yet, Baha'ullah is by far the most revered as he brought the last revelation to man.The teachings of Baha'ullah were spread with his son, Abdu l-Baha'. He was imprisoned for years by the Ottomans, but was released in 1908, after which he travelled to Europe and North America, where he preached the message of Baha'i. By 1920 the largest communities of Baha'is were in the USA.Today there are 2- 5 million Baha'is in the world (Baha'i itself claims more than 5 million, but observers sometimes estimates the numbers as low as 2 million) in almost all countries of the world.The headquarter of the religion is situated on Mount Carmel, near Haifa in Israel.

Here there is a shrine of Bab, a grand archive, and the world administrative centre. The tomb of Baha'ullah is in the nearby city of Acre.Baha'i claims to be a universal religion. It calls for better social conditions for the underprivileged, to love one another, harmony between races and religions, equality of the sexes, one language for all, one education for all, nonresistance, bearing injustice with rebellion, and one religion that takes the essence from all the big religions. Austerities are not welcomed in Baha'i, man should feel happy.

There are no priests in Baha'i, but until 1957 the guardian of the faith was an descendant of Baha'ullah. Since then there has been an elected leader of the religion. Local congregations are called "spiritual assembly", baytu l-adl made up of 9 members. There are no rituals and, except for the writings of Baha'ullah and Abdu l-Baha', no sacred texts either.The religion's literature has been translated into more than 350 languages. The spiritual assembly takes care of the treasury. The Baha'is that live in Iran have faced terrible persecution by the governments since the Iranian revolution of 1979.

The Champions

The Champions Of Post 5th June 1967

It was the year of the abyss 1967, when the apocalypse shamed all those at the front, and disillusioned those in the hind.

June 5th Inspire of all the Arab claimed might and mobilization Israel succeeded to launch a pre-emptive strike against Egypt on June 5, 1967 and captured the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, Jordan attacked Israel and lost control of the West Bank and the eastern sector of Jerusalem. Israel went on to capture the fortress of Golan Heights from Syria. The war ended on June 10.

Desolation and shame proceed to haunt the Arabs, at the time none of the leaders did acknowledged the calamity, but shamefully continued to exist, business as usual.

The Arab world was in dismay, seeking refuge away from the bestowed inherited shame. This very period created my Arab Champions, to crown a legacy of individuals simple and spontaneous with the taste of the salt of earth that was the remedy and refuge of the millions. Those in writers wrote in a dialectal Arabic, in particular Egyptian dialect. This gave a deeper meaning of their strive.

Sheikh Imam
The Late Sheikh Imam, Creator of Modern Arabic Political Song
On last June 6 the great Egyptian musician and singer Sheikh Imam died at the age of 78, after a long illness. Sheikh Imam's final days were difficult. He lived alone, visited occasionally by either his neighbors or friends. Blind since childhood, few offered assistance to the Sheikh Imam, who nevertheless perhaps saw far more than those blessed with the power of sight. By all accounts, Sheikh Imam is a major pillar of the Arabic political song which motivated thousands of workers and intellectuals rebellious against decadent times and ambitious for better tomorrow.

Ahmad Fouad Najem
Sheikh Imam Attempts at song writing was not quite successful, but when Sheikh Imam met the poet Ahmad Fouad Najem the two formed a duo where it became difficult to refer to one without the other. Working patiently and under difficult conditions, Sheikh Imam and Ahmad Fouad Najem developed the popular political song which advocates the interests of the poor and working peoples, or in other words, gave birth to an avant-guard "hymn to justice." The 1967 War and the impact of Arab defeat brought the duo "Imam-Najem" even closer, whereby they moved from reacting to social and political events into being active participants. There songs were a "light of hope in the darkness that was shed by the 1967 defeat and its aftermath." That is why their revolutionary songs Misr Ya Bahia [Pretty Egypt], Shayid Kussurak [Build Your Palaces], Ghifara [Che Ghivara], El Fallahin [the Peasants] and Mur El Kalam [Bitter Talk] were the litanies of Arab students and workers during their strikes, sit-ins and demonstrations. Many remember Imam's song Rajiu al Talmiza [The Students Returned], which he composed during the student uprising in 1972.

Their activism led the Imam-Najem pair straight to prison in 1968, where they served three years. They were also frequent quests at Egypt's state prisons between 1972 and 1979... when the duo were in prison, Sheikh Imam used to get closer to Najem's cell to recite the latter's new lyrics and then return to his cell to compose the music.
Despite their longstanding personal and professional relationship, Sheikh Imam and Ahmad Fouad Najem parted in the mid 1980's,

The music of Sheikh Imam, and the words of Ahmad Fouad Najem was marked by a form of totality that made his political song travel beyond the geographical location of its origin. It addressed issues other than those of Egypt and the conflicts peculiar of that setting; Sheikh Imam's music appealed to non-Arab and Arab symbols like the Palestinian question.

There is a vast heritage left to us by those who acted as the conscious of the people.
Below some of the written works ,as for the songs they are available on cassettes .but all the works are in a one book that holds all the works of Najem.

Abd Al-Rahman Al-Abnoudi 1934
One of the few poets used the Egyptian colloquial dialect poetry; Alabnoudi could touch the hearts of the Arabic audience. He considered himself the guard of the Egyptian country side heritage. In writing Poetry, Al-Abnoudi uses the words and expressions derived from the Egyptian country side dialect. He created a special simple language that everybody can understand.

He again, was the after effect of 67 defeat, He is a very prolific writer, and most impressive in capturing the sprits of the poor and the under privileged to turn to us into a very vivid visor moments.

He wrote many songs for many Singers, and published all his poetry in books with recorded cassettes, to enable the reader to understand, the meanings of the dialect.
Al-Abnoudi has one very famous book/audio cassette it is called:
Jawabat Haraji Algket Le Zawjatiuho Fatima Abdul Gaffar, (the letters of Haraji Algket to his wife Fatima AbdulGaffar). This is a must to read, hear. as other works are numerous, but if I talk and describe or comment on his works ,I will do him injustice.

Salah Jaheen 1932-2001
Selah Jaheen has demonstrated his mutable talents very successfully and became an icon on the daily seen, with his Rubayat and the cartoons to reflect the pulls of the masses that roam the streets

Jaheen & Cartoon
Jaheen’s career in journalism started in the early 50’s. In 1955, he worked as an amateur cartoonist in Rose El-Youssef. One year later, when the first issue of Sabah el-Khair saw the light of day, he turned professional. Dealt with vital issues in Egypt and the Arab World as well. He is the founder of the modern Egyptian cartoon school. The brilliant success of Jaheen’s cartoons arose out of the fact that he done them in the best interest of the people. Among Jaheen’s remarkably innumerable cartoon series were Hashish Addicts, Vigor Coffee-house and the Government Departments.

Jaheen & Colloquial Poetry
Jaheen’s colloquial poetry bore many Jaheen introduced a wide range of vocabulary that was only used in political articles to songwriting. Among the songs that helped create the revolutionary awareness and stir the patriotic fervour were: "We’re the People", Jaheen’s first song written in 1956, "Oh Weapon, Be Ready", "Rebels", "Oh Freedom, Here’s Nasser", "Welcome Battles" and "Paradise is my Country" .

The simplicity and spontaneity of Jaheen’s songs which evoke echoes of that cherished epoch in Egypt’s modern history make them remembered for ever. The last song he wrote was" Those are the Egyptians".

Jaheen, Visual Arts
In the film industry, Jaheen was a producer, scriptwriter and actor as well. In December 1969, Jaheen produced five television musicals, all based on popular folk tales, such as "The Zoo" and "Hashim and Rawhiya". He also wrote the "Ramadan Riddles" for television for several successive years.

As an actor, Jaheen played a variety of roles in "No Time for Love", "The Thief and the Dogs", "The Martyr of Divine Love", "The Mamelukes", to name but a few.

He wrote the scripts of the television drama serial "He and She" and of many cinema films - "The Return of the Lost Son", "Be careful, she is Zozo", "Amira My Sweetheart" and "Shafiqa and Metwalli", giving only these as examples.

Jaheen also wrote for the puppet theatre. His first production "Hassan the Shrewd" written in 1958 was followed by "A Feddan of Freedom" and "The Devil’s Mill". As nothing succeeds like success, Jaheen, then, wrote his remarkably distinguished masterpiece "The Big Night" operetta.

He created most of the children’s television puppet serials favorite characters such as "Shehab el-Din’s Donkey" "Nono the Elephant" and "The Chatterbox". It is no wonder that, in September 1962, the Ministry of Culture assigned Jaheen the task of setting up a committee on children’s culture.

Hinduism Part 2

The four castes
The Hindu society is divided into four main hereditary classes: the Brahman, or priestly; the Kshatriya, or warrior; the Vaisya, or general populace and the Shudras, or servants. Hindus also believe in a hierarchical categorization of the members of each caste according to the importance of their origin, which means that the social status is handed down through generations. In the Laws of Manu known as “Manu Smriti”, Hindus say: “To bring happiness to this world, Brahma created the Brahman class from his face, the Kshatriya from his arms, the Vaisya from his thighs, and the Shudras from his feet.” Al-Bayrouni described these castes similarly to what was mentioned in the “Manu Smriti”; he says: “First of all, the Hindu institution of the caste system is organized in four classes starting with the Brahman; the highest Hindu caste that emanated from the head of Brahma - as related in their books. Knowing that the head represents the top part of the animal’s body, the Brahman was accordingly considered as the most pure organism amongst species and that is why it became a symbol of the best and supreme position within people. The second caste that follows the Brahman in importance is the Kshatriya which issued from Brahma’s shoulders and hands and was relatively close in position and status to those of the Brahman. The Vaisya and the Shudras come successively after the above two ranks; those classes were created from the legs of Brahma and they are closely related to each other in significance. Despite of this hierarchical system that arranges classes of Hindu society, we find that cities and villages embrace a mixture of the four castes’ homes and dwellings.”

A: The Brahman: In their Holy Texts “Manu Smriti”, Hindus say that Brahma, the supreme god, “commissioned the Brahman to read and teach the Veda, to carry out the task of relating knowledge (Vidya), performing religious celebrations, giving and accepting charities.According to Coller, the members of this caste are “the elite of priests and mentors who are regarded in general as the elite of cultured people whose primary activities are to preserve knowledge, culture, justice and morality in order to please the gods.”

B: The Kshatriya: The Kshatriya is the second of the four Hindu castes after the Brahman, originally a royal and warrior caste with the mission of maintaining the security in the country. Consequently, its members should be distinguished by their courage as by their political and military professional standards so that they would enjoy society’s great reverence. In his definition of the Kshatriya, John Coller said: “The members of the Kshatriya caste are the protectors of society, the administrators of its affairs, and the guardians of its individuals. The Kshatriya is the system that looks after society’s security, supervises and watches over the execution of laws and commands required by the necessary social functions. The Jati - a Sanskrit word denoting the system of caste or varna - also states that heroism, force, integrity, mastership, being valorous even in battles, showing generosity and manifesting skillful leadership; those are the natural and intuitive duties that a member of Kshatriya caste should enjoy.Similarly, Al-Bayrouni says that the qualities accorded to this class require the Kshatriya person to be “revered, courageous, influential, articulate, giving, strong in facing any hardship, capable of solving plights successfully.”

C: The Vaisya or the Waisya: Next in order of rank were the farmers and merchants, the Vaisya caste whose crucial mission in society is to provide the fullness of nourishment and to ensure an ample and stable livelihood conditions. Moreover, this class is in complete charge of the economic affairs and it is not a matter of desirable choice to carry out this job; nay, it is an appointed decree by the “Manu Smriti” or “The Laws of Manu” which dictate the following: “The Vaisya are supposed to fulfill seven tasks which are: taking care and shepherding animals, giving charities, worshipping the Vidya, studying the Vedas, working in commerce, adopting the treatment of usury, and assuming the farming chores.” In fact, this social class is trying hard to gradually advance in position, it is really trying to attain liberation from life’s restraints and achieve freedom from daily worries; however, it remains for ever the servant of the nation and the people because the responsibility of providing continuous and ample productiveness is cast upon its shoulders.

D: The Shudras or the Sudras: The Shudras is the lowest of the four castes in Hindu hierarchical organization of society. The members of this class are almost slaves because their duty lies in serving the society and working hard to fulfill whatever the upper classes burden them with. Al-Bayrouni says: “A Sudras should be diligent in serving and flattering people, he should try to be friendly to any one when performing his duty, and whomsoever shows perseverance and hard-working effort in dealing with his prescribed ordinary task, he will be greatly rewarded.” And the one who does not fulfill his appointed job will be subjected to punishment. Concerning the function of this particular class, the Hindu Laws or the “Manu Smriti” relate: “The supreme god had bound Sudras with a sole requirement which is to serve the higher castes with complete loyalty and devotion.” And by ‘the higher castes’, he is indicating the above mentioned three castes: the Brahman, the Kshatriya and the Vaisyas.

Verily, this Hindu social hierarchy is maintained generation after generation allowing little mobility out of the position, to which a person is born, blocking the way in front any competence or ability-based promotion and consequently leaving no room for justice. The characteristics of this Indian rigid social system paved the way to a sharp division within the Indian society creating a serious need to the dissolution of the artificial and oppressive barriers between the castes. Amongst the considerable attempts aiming at eradicating this unjust social institution was the one led by Mahatma Gandhi in the early twenties. However, this endeavor could not realize the expected and desired results because the class-based discrimination has deep roots in the Hindu mentality, beliefs and society.

VI- Hindu worship and rituals
1- Purity: It is noticeable that the most sacred places that Hindus head toward for pilgrimage are spread throughout river banks. And the holiest amongst all these rivers is the Ganges where people sprinkle the ashes of their dead after incinerating their bodies. It is said that the importance of the Ganges comes from source of which the river issues; it springs from underneath the feet of the god Vishnu, the preserver.Furthermore, the Hindu theology reveals numerous cases of getting purified. For example, the Manu Smriti texts mentioned that the sexual defiling could be purified through washing up “Human beings can rid themselves of the uncleanness of discharging seminal fluid by washing out.” In addition, “Washing up can be the way through which people can free themselves from impurities that they got inflicted with by touching moral-degraded people, by touching a woman during the menstruation period, by touching a woman during the forty days after childbirth, by touching a dead body, or by touching a person who himself had previously touched a dead body.”All the more so, Hindus believe that the blood of a martyr does not need to be cleansed up because it is pure in itself. In their Laws, Hindus say: “The person who dies in the battlefield or during a struggle; who perishes because of a thunderbolt; who is crashed by a cow or by a Brahmin; who had been sentenced to death by the king or the latter wanted to subject him to purification; no one will ever be contaminated by the death of such person.” As for the woman “she should purify herself by washing up a day after the miscarriage to compensate all the months of pregnancy just as she should do after the menstruation period.”

Hindus regard purity as being divided into two types; the first one is related to the body when they wash themselves up with water, and the second type is spiritual such as the purification of the soul through holy knowledge and the purification of the heart through offering worship, and so forth…

2- The prayer: bathing, wearing clean garments of white or yellow color, washing up hands and mouths with scented water are considered as forms of prayer. Men and women take different positions during prayers; the man sits cross-legged while the woman gets down on her knees. Concerning the performance of prayers - as Shalabi stated in his book “The Greatest Religions of India” - it would be as follows: “Hinduism has neither a unifying nor a collective prayer because, all in all, the prayer is individual.”As for ‘when’ and ‘how many times’ Hindus perform their prayers, the Manu Smriti stated that they pray twice a day: in the morning and in the evening. By standing up, priests perform the ceremony of the morning that lasts from the dawn till the sunrise; while by being seated, they recite the evening prayer till the appearance of the stars. Those two adopted methods to pray in the morning and in the evening are believed to wash away the sins of the previous night and the sins of the day respectively.Hindus insisted severely on the performance of daily prayers for the texts of the Manu Smriti clearly stated that people who do not perform the prayers should be expelled and regarded the same way as the outcast Shudras, or they should be deprived from the established rights of the reborn - indicating the people who have a soul that had undergone the cyclical return.

The religious fervor that Hindus enjoy creates in them an intense enthusiasm to lead the life of hermits making from forests and riverbanks their isolated and solitary refuges. Consequently they say: “It is sufficient that the person performs his worship by just reading aloud the Khaytri with a peaceful heart and a sound reason, near a river or in a forest.”Next to water that they use in order to purify things and people, Hindus also utilize, in their ceremonies and rituals celebrated by priests in temples, fire to burn the incense, in addition to the remarkable usage of flours. The prayers that are recited in temples are performed - as Al-Shalabi says - as follows: “The priest recites his traditional enchantments. Then, the person would kneel underneath the worshipped idol and starts his invocations… Later on, the priest spells out his traditional supplications knowing that each social caste has its own different share in this supplication… The priest voices a special invocation. Afterwards, the person says his prayer to be finally sprinkled with water before he departs.”

3- Cremation: In Hinduism, the atman - the soul - is the essence of individuals, which make the body of little importance, especially when it comes to the transmigration of a soul after death. Hindus believe that the soul keeps on undergoing the cyclical return of life because it will be searching the attainment of enlightenment and purification in order to free the spiritual self from attachment to worldly things which will finally end the cycle of birth and rebirth allowing the union with the Universal Soul “Nirvana.”Consequently, Hindus dealt very harshly with their live bodies; as for the after death, they advocate the ritual of subjecting the corpse to incineration until nothing remains but ashes; the ashes are then kept in an urn to be sprinkled afterwards in their holy Ganges River .The ceremony of cremation is based upon the following items - as identified by Doctor Shalabi: “The required elements are: fire, wood, the corpse and water.” And these items would be arranged underneath the worshipped idol by the children or the family of the dead person.The procedure of the cremation: The corpse is washed with pure and limpid water then again washed with fragrant water. All the wounds and incisions should be completely closed. The dead body should be incinerated by means of the revered fire set by the priest. After that the corpse is covered with wood, which is also revered by Hindus… The burning of the body will keep going until only ashes are left; Hindu spells, hymns, and chants will be recited over those ashes” which should be assembled in a vessel to be dispersed afterwards in the Ganges River.

4- The Yoga: In Hinduism, the essence of human beings is all about the “atman” and his body is very likely to be an obstacle hindering the way of the spiritual self which is trying to liberate itself from the cyclical and entangling return to life to finally reach the union with the Universal Spirit or the god Brahma.Hence, as says Al-Suhmurani, Hindus adopted the concept of “Karma”; a conventional term to indicate their philosophy about the human cyclic life concerning birth, Samsara - transmigration between bodies - and the quality of people’s future lives, the soul in particular, which is determined by their accumulated merit and demerit behavior in this and in previous lives.So, if the human being took the right path: doing good and charitable deeds, performing his religious duties through expiations and rituals, renouncing all worldly desires, his soul will achieve release (moksha) from the entire process of samsara to be unified with the Universal Soul - Brahma. On the other hand, if the human being sought the profane rewards of this world: taking the path of evil and wrong doings, neglecting his duties, his soul will be endlessly stuck in the cycle of birth and rebirth, passing from one body to another, experiencing successively life and death.Accordingly, Hindus adopted the Yoga discipline. The Yoga is a Sanskrit term meaning ‘the yoke’ used to signify the fact that the exercise of Yoga achieves the salvation of the soul from the yoke of the body.Verily, as we have said earlier, Brahma and the Atman (the essence or the soul) are one entity. Therefore, the purpose of practicing Yoga - as Coller notes - is to reestablish that unity which had split when the soul inhabited the body. So, in order to be liberated and realize again this oneness with Brahma, the soul necessitates the Yoga discipline. Coller adds also that the marvels of this bodily control, which may achieve liberation from the limitations of flesh, the delusions of sense and the pitfalls of thought are not enough if the human being was not introduced to wisdom and disinfected from ignorance… Once the wisdom is fulfilled, no suffering will exist any more because there will no longer be a misconnection between the soul (Borosha) and the substance (Brakriti) - the changing and sufferable entity.On this basis, Shalabi says that realizing the gratification of god, the creator, is the ultimate goal Hindus try to achieve through practicing Yoga; the kind of exercise based on remembrance, meditation and silence. Coller also states that the Yoga is the answer of salvation from pain and tragedies; it is the path through which human beings reach the Nirvana that achieves the complete union and fusion between the atman (the soul) and Brahma.Moreover, Al-Suhmurani said that the Yoga saves and releases the spirit from the bond of the body and from its primitive instinctive impulses and drives to make from the human being a more tender and loving person to people all. By reaching this noble level, the concerned person will be called “Mahatma”; a title ascribed to Hindu Saints and good people. The word is etymologically divided into two syllables: ‘Atma’ or ‘Atman’ meaning the Soul; and ‘Maha’ to signify the Great. Like so, the person who reaches salvation will be deemed as the person of the Greatest Spirit.

5- Sraddha or Shraddha: the Sraddha, as described by ‘Al-Bustani in “The Circle of Knowledge,” is an Indian term meaning ‘faith or trust’ and it is used to designate an Indian ceremony celebrated to honor the dead and their spirits; it mainly includes offerings of food and water to dead ancestors. Indeed, Hindus believe that carrying out this festival shortly after the death of the person would immediately guide his soul to heaven and facilitate its acceptance amongst the pure souls. In return, if that ceremony is never held, the soul of the dead will remain lost forever wandering aimlessly in earth with the rest of defiled spirits. Moreover, the person who keeps on delaying the fulfillment of his duties towards his dead relatives; will be damned by the gods and the humans; consequently, the spirits of his relatives will be deprived from the feast of the pure souls for several years. As for the person who dies without leaving a son to complete the funeral requirements after him, he would become the main cause of expelling the spirits of his ancestors from heaven to be sent hell.

At the beginning of each lunar month, the Brahmans lead some conjoined Sraddhaas for the sake of their ancestors in general, in which they make daily offerings. And as individuals, they hold a special and private Sraddhaa once a month or once a year. The Book of Manu minutely describes the Law of Sraddhaa: If a person offers the spirits of the dead a ball of rice simmered with milk, honey and dripped butter during one of the lunar days when the shadow of Ganesha - an elephant-headed Hindu god - is directed towards east; he would be pleasing them for a whole year; as for the other offerings, they may satisfy the souls for two or three months, or even more regarding the kind of offerings that are being given. All the more so, the soul can attain an eternal gratification and satisfaction if the following oblations are made: the meat of a rhinoceros, the flesh of crabs, goats of nearly red hair, honey, or some cereals of which a hermit had eaten, etc… These Indian customs are completely similar to the Greek and Roman customs. To the ceremony held for the sake of the dead, Hindus do not invite but the pure people. Two people, however, should be present at this festival: a Brahmin who covers all the required rules and a person of a deep knowledge in the religious Texts whose presence is better than the crowd of a million knowing nothing about it. In addition, if the dead person had no son to carry out this ceremony, the adopted child - if he had one - would be commissioned to fulfill the duties of the Sraddhaa; something that tightens and strengthens the father-son relationship.

--End .

Buddhism

I- The rise of Buddhism

Hinduism was the outcome of an epistemic and religious accumulation of the Indian heritage. Based on that heritage, Hinduism took its shape over thousands and thousands of years becoming the real embodiment of the nationalist personality in the Indian society. On the other hand, the rise of Buddhism was ascribed to a particular person who appeared in a context of an absolute and a conclusive rejection of Hindu practices. In other words, grounded on spiritual, metaphysical and political principles, Buddhism came as a movement of social reform negating and renouncing the Hindu caste system that furnished the two ruling castes - the Brahman (priests) and the Kshatriya (warriors) - with clear and distinct privileges. Moreover, Buddhism was opened to members of all castes; actually, it was dependent on the less important social classes denying that a person’s spiritual worth is a matter of birth; let alone that Buddhism firmly held the idea of the necessity to curtail, if not demolish, the infinite power of Brahmans.

Furthermore, Buddhism believed in the transmigration of the souls and the afterlife, which are affected by Karma - it consists of a person’s acts and their ethical consequences - and destiny - the consequential events that inevitably happen to human beings. Nonetheless, it asserted that the accurate ritual celebrations dictated by laws would never stop the stream or the number of births; what really affects them is the implementation of virtues, which is carried out due to the motivation of personal responsibility. Hence, Buddhism endeavored to annihilate the privileges of the hereditary social system that divides people into classes according to their rank, wealth, or profession, or that of the family into which they were born - the classification that provides the solid foundation of Brahman society. Afterwards, Buddhism became a kind of social revolution, it eagerly accepted, without any distinction or differentiation, all the persons who aspired to revoke and destroy the power of Brahmans.

As the “General History of Civilizations” encyclopedia mentions, Buddhism rests, in its spiritual teachings, on the principle of the struggle between good and evil. According to Buddhism, the release from the round of phenomenal existence - transmigration - with its inherent suffering is realized through practicing the virtue of loving-kindness towards all creatures, through humbleness and through self-denial or the great renunciation. All the more so, Buddhism believes in the redemption theory because without the presence of a savior people will suffer from the undesirable consequences of their doings. That savior would be the Buddha Sakyamuni (sage of the Sakyas) for the present cosmic period and the Buddha Maitreya; the Master of the next era. The future Buddha will be reborn in a period of decline to renew the doctrine of the founder of Buddhism - the Buddha - and his appearance will be preceded by the vanishment of the world. In “The Circle of Knowledge”, Al-Bustani points to the fact that, on the whole, the widely-spread belief of Buddhism regards the Brahmans’ worshipped idols and deities as lower in level and degree than the Buddha as well as than the revered priests; making from human beings, as a consequence, more important and higher in rank than those sanctified figures.

Actually, the Buddha is not an incarnation of a transcendental being; nay, he is perfect just by himself - adds Al-Bustani. The Vedas state also that virtues, piety, meditation, and wisdom are the holiest among all adorations and worships. The virtue of Indians lies mainly in carrying out self-denial, in suppressing one’s desires and cravings, in counteracting and subjugating one’s will, in being merciful and showing sympathy towards all creatures, in uprooting sins, etc… which will eventually lead to a limitless and endless knowledge. In early stages, Buddhism was simple, moral and rational. It was opposed to mythology, philosophy, rituals, festivals and the priestly profession; it was at the highest levels of excellence and compassion; it was very tractable and easy-going inviting all people to join it without any discrimination between them based on their status and position.

Well, Buddhism tried to widely open the path towards salvation for all people declaring that it can be attained by leading a pure life and a pure comportment. However, we notice that some reservations were held regarding the issue of dividing people into classes, for Buddhism refrained from, explicitly and frankly, forbidding that approach as well as it refrained from verifying its observance.

II- The foundation of Buddhism

Buddhism, a major world religion, founded in northeastern India and based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who is known as the Buddha, or Enlightened One. And ‘the Buddha’ is an Indian name meaning knowledgeable, wise, or sage; later on, this word became the symbolization of a series of Buddhist teachers that people worshipped and were related to.

The widely held belief is that a countless number of Buddhas had appeared to save the world and that our present time is also witnessing one of them. The Buddha is known too as Sakyamuni (the Saint) or the ascetic Sakya and he is believed to have been born by the year 563 B.C. One of the Buddha’s achievements is that he reformed and corrected Brahmanism by inserting in it a simple code of faith and by altering its harsh legislations, customs and traditions introducing other ethical, kind and tender legislations - said Al-Bustani in The Circle of Knowledge. Al-Bustani, moreover, says that the Buddha was also called Buddha Sarkathasitha (meaning all the required had been fulfilled). Seven days after his birth, his mother - Maya - died and he was left to his aunt Braja Batti Gautama (meaning the owner of the world) to take care of him; afterwards, he was called Gautama.According to the Buddhist story, the conception of Maya with Buddha was miraculous; it was like a five-color beam of light and he was born in the form of a white elephant. The moment of his birth some glorious and amazing miracles occurred; and he immediately announced his mission.As it is stated in the Gospel of Buddha, the story of his delivery under the Malbini tree says: “His light spread and filled the world and suddenly the eyes of the blind were opened to see the glory descending from heaven; the deaf-and-dumb spoke and heard.” Among the related imaginational Indian myths speaking about the birth of Buddha is that the hands of Brahmans caught him as he were brought into life and that he stood up at once and talked.

Stories were also narrated about his mother when she delivered him: “And when she wanted to get up, she stretched her hand reaching for a tree branch; the latter, automatically and spontaneously, bent over her until it reached her palm. As soon as she stood up, a new baby born was lying underneath her received by four Brahmans in a dragnet, the interlaced threads of which were made of golden wires. Instantaneously, the newborn child rose, made seven steps forward and then said in a sweet voice: I am the master of this world… and this life is my last one.” That is what Suleiman Mazhar reported in his research published in Al-‘Arabi magazine.

The Buddha was the son of the head of the Sakya warrior caste; the ruler of a petty kingdom. The young prince was raised in a sheltered luxury. Yielding to his father's wishes, he married at an early age and participated in the worldly life of the court. After he had begotten a son, the Buddha started to worry about the destiny of human beings and realized how empty his life to this point had been, especially with regard to all the sufferings and pains that he had seen; the sufferings that all people are inflicted with from those who have no means of subsistence, to those who walk around searching vainly for something to eat, to those who have nothing but torn clothes to wear, to those who had been beaten by fatal diseases and illnesses, etc… At that stage, the Buddha deeply discovered that suffering is the common lot of humankind and found his carefree, self-indulgent existence dull and disgusting.

So, he renounced earthly attachments, left home and embarked on a quest for peace and enlightenment, seeking release from the cycle of rebirths - this decision, known in Buddhism as the Great Renunciation, is celebrated by Buddhists as a turning point in history. For the next few years, he wandered with Hindu monks, practiced yoga and adopted a life of radical asceticism, carrying through the most austere and severe self-denial. Eventually he gave up this approach as fruitless and instead adopted a middle path between the life of indulgence and that of self-denial. About 528, while sitting under a tree near Gaya, in what is now Buddh Gaya in the state of Bihar, he meditated, rising through a series of higher states of consciousness until he attained the Great Enlightenment which revealed the way of salvation from suffering.

Once having known this ultimate religious truth, the Buddha began to preach, wandering from place to place, gathering a body of disciples, and organizing them into a monastic community known as the sangha. In this way he spent the rest of his life. After 45 years of missionary activity Buddha died in Kusinagara, Nepal, as a result of eating contaminated pork. He was about 80 years old.Buddhists gave the Buddha a divine status - as it is related in the Gospel of Buddha. He became the model to be imitated, the mission to be sought, and the pattern to be treaded.

His behavior and approach in life became the demanded and desired goal to achieve, and the wished immortality requested by all humankind became accessible through the union with the Buddha - attained through the “Nirvana”. “Let us go to Buddha who found immortality in death. Let us go to Buddha who never disappears. Let us go to Buddha who never changes our existence. Let us go to Buddha the truth that emanates from us a revolution.” Thus, Anoroda, the successor of the Buddha was reported to have said to Buddhism followers: “Gautama Siddhartha was the visible truth amongst us. He is the one, the divine, the perfect and the blessed. To him and in him, the supreme truth was revealed, it became a human being and he declared it to us.” Accordingly, to Buddhists, the Buddha becomes the eternal, the holy, the complete, and the law; and without the unification with him, life is null.

III- Buddha’s Teachings

The Buddha was an oral teacher; he left no written body of thought. His beliefs were codified by later followers , and they can be outlined as follows:.

a-The Four Noble TruthsAt the core of the Buddha’s enlightenment was the realization of the Four Noble Truths: (1) Life is suffering. This is more than a mere recognition of the presence of suffering in existence. It is a statement that, in its very nature, human existence is essentially painful from the moment of birth to the moment of death. Even death brings no relief, for the Buddha accepted the Hindu idea of life as cyclical, with death leading to further rebirth. (2) All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the craving, attachment, and grasping that result from such ignorance. (3) Suffering can be ended by overcoming ignorance and attachment. (4) The path to the suppression of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right contemplation.

These eight are usually divided into three categories that form the cornerstone of Buddhist faith: morality, wisdom, and samadhi, or concentrationb- AnatmanBuddhism analyzes human existence as made up of five aggregates or “bundles” (skandhas): the material body, feelings, perceptions, predispositions or karmic tendencies, and consciousness. A person is only a temporary combination of these aggregates, which are subject to continual change. No one remains the same for any two consecutive moments. Buddhists deny that the aggregates individually or in combination may be considered a permanent, independently existing self or soul (atman). Indeed, they regard it as a mistake to conceive of any lasting unity behind the elements that constitute an individual. The Buddha held that belief in such a self results in egoism, craving, and hence in suffering. Thus he taught the doctrine of anatman, or the denial of a permanent soul. He felt that all existence is characterized by the three marks of anatman (no soul), anitya (impermanence), and dukkha (suffering). The doctrine of anatman made it necessary for the Buddha to reinterpret the Indian idea of repeated rebirth in the cycle of phenomenal existence known as samsara.

To this end he taught the doctrine of pratityasamutpada, or dependent origination. This 12-linked chain of causation shows how ignorance in a previous life creates the tendency for a combination of aggregates to develop. These in turn cause the mind and senses to operate. Sensations result, which lead to craving and a clinging to existence. This condition triggers the process of becoming once again, producing a renewed cycle of birth, old age, and death. Through this causal chain a connection is made between one life and the next. What is posited is a stream of renewed existences, rather than a permanent being that moves from life to life - in effect a belief in rebirth without transmigration.

c- KarmaClosely related to this belief is the doctrine of karma. Karma consists of a person’s acts and their ethical consequences. Human actions lead to rebirth, wherein good deeds are inevitably rewarded and evil deeds punished. Thus, neither undeserved pleasure nor unwarranted suffering exists in the world, but rather a universal justice. The karmic process operates through a kind of natural moral law rather than through a system of divine judgment. One’s karma determines such matters as one’s species, beauty, intelligence, longevity, wealth, and social status. According to the Buddha, karma of varying types can lead to rebirth as a human, an animal, a hungry ghost, a denizen of hell, or even one of the Hindu gods.Although never actually denying the existence of the gods, Buddhism denies them any special role. Their lives in heaven are long and pleasurable, but they are in the same predicament as other creatures, being subject eventually to death and further rebirth in lower states of existence.

They are not creators of the universe or in control of human destiny, and Buddhism denies the value of prayer and sacrifice to them. Of the possible modes of rebirth, human existence is preferable, because the deities are so engrossed in their own pleasures that they lose sight of the need for salvation. Enlightenment is possible only for humans.d- NirvanaThe ultimate goal of the Buddhist path is release from the round of phenomenal existence with its inherent suffering. To achieve this goal is to attain nirvana, an enlightened state in which the fires of greed, hatred, and ignorance have been quenched. Not to be confused with total annihilation, nirvana is a state of consciousness beyond definition. After attaining nirvana, the enlightened individual may continue to live, burning off any remaining karma until a state of final nirvana (parinirvana) is attained at the moment of death.In theory, the goal of nirvana is attainable by anyone, although it is a realistic goal only for members of the monastic community.

For those unable to pursue the ultimate goal, the proximate goal of better rebirth through improved karma is an option. This lesser goal is generally pursued by lay Buddhists in the hope that it will eventually lead to a life in which they are capable of pursuing final enlightenment as members of the sangha.The ethic that leads to nirvana is detached and inner-oriented. It involves cultivating four virtuous attitudes, known as the Palaces of Brahma: loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. The ethic that leads to better rebirth, however, is centered on fulfilling one’s duties to society. It involves acts of charity, especially support of the sangha, as well as observance of the five precepts that constitute the basic moral code of Buddhism.

The precepts prohibit killing, stealing, harmful language, sexual misbehavior, and the use of intoxicants. By observing these precepts, the three roots of evil - lust, hatred, and delusion - may be overcome.

IV-Division and new groupings

Shortly before his death, the Buddha refused his disciples’ request to appoint a successor, telling his followers to work out their own salvation with diligence. At that time Buddhist teachings existed only in oral traditions, and it soon became apparent that a new basis for maintaining the community’s unity and purity was needed. Thus, the monastic order met periodically to reach agreement on matters of doctrine and practice. Four such meetings have been focused on in the traditions as major councils.The first council was held at Rajagrha (present-day Rajgir) immediately after the Buddha’s death. Presided over by a monk named Mahakasyapa, its purpose was to recite and agree on the Buddha’s actual teachings and on proper monastic discipline.

About a century later, a second great council is said to have met at Vaishali. Its purpose was to deal with ten questionable monastic practices - the use of money, the drinking of palm wine, and other irregularities of monks from the Vajjian Confederacy; the council declared these practices unlawful. Some scholars trace the origins of the first major split in Buddhism to this event, holding that the accounts of the council refer to the schism between the Mahasanghikas, or Great Assembly, and the stricter Sthaviras, or Elders. More likely, however, the split between these two groups became formalized at another meeting held some 37 years later as a result of the continued growth of tensions within the sangha over disciplinary issues, the role of the laity, and the nature of the arhat (Theravada Buddhism an individual who has achieved enlightenment by following the Eightfold Path is known as an arhat, or worthy one, a type of solitary saint). In time, further subdivisions within these groups resulted in 18 schools that differed on philosophical matters, religious questions, and points of discipline. Of these 18 traditional sects, only Theravada survives.

The third council at Pataliputra (present-day Patna) was called by King Ashoka in the 3rd century bc. Convened by the monk Moggaliputta Tissa, it was held in order to purify the sangha of the large number of false monks and heretics who had joined the order because of its royal patronage. This council refuted the offending viewpoints and expelled those who held them. A fourth council, under the patronage of King Kanishka, was held about ad 100 at Jalandhar or in Kashmir. Both branches of Buddhism may have participated in this council, which aimed at creating peace among the various sects, but Theravada Buddhists refuse to recognize its authenticity.

While the more conservative monks - the stricter Sthaviras and later on Theravada Buddhism - continued to honor the Buddha as a perfectly enlightened human teacher, the liberal wing of Mahasanghikas developed a new concept. They considered the Buddha an eternal, omnipresent, transcendental being. They speculated that the human Buddha was but an apparition of the transcendental Buddha that was created for the benefit of humankind. In this understanding of the Buddha nature, Mahasanghika thought is something of a prototype of Mahayana.Mahayana and HinayanaBuddhism today is divided into two major branches known to their respective followers as Theravada, the Way of the Elders, and Mahayana, the Great Vehicle. Followers of Mahayana refer to Theravada using the derogatory term Hinayana, the Lesser Vehicle and they have traditionally regarded their doctrine as the full revelation of the nature and teachings of the Buddha, in opposition to the earlier Theravada tradition (Hinayana).

The most probable forerunners of Mahayana were the Mahasanghikas (Followers of the Great Assembly), a liberal branch of the Buddhist community that broke away from the more conservative mainstream some time before the reign of Indian king Ashoka in the 3rd century B.C. Mahayana thinkers of later periods categorized the Mahasanghikas as one of the 18 schools of Hinayana Buddhism, but when Mahayana first emerged, it resembled Mahasanghika in several areas of doctrinal interpretation. The most significant Mahayana innovation was the view of the Buddha as a supernatural being who assumed a transformation body (nirmana-kaya) to be born as the historical Buddha.

The Mahayana believes in the eternal Buddha and in his threefold nature, or triple “body” (trikaya). These aspects are the body of essence, the body of communal bliss, and the body of transformation. The body of essence represents the ultimate nature of the Buddha. Beyond form, it is the unchanging absolute and is spoken of as consciousness or the void. This essential Buddha nature manifests itself, taking on heavenly form as the body of communal bliss. In this form the Buddha sits in godlike splendor, preaching in the heavens. Lastly, the Buddha nature appears on earth in human form to convert humankind. Such an appearance is known as a body of transformation. The Buddha has taken on such an appearance countless times. Mahayana considers the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, only one example of the body of transformation. Another important new concept in Mahayana is that of the bodhisattva or enlightenment being, as the ideal toward which the good Buddhist should aspire.

A bodhisattva is an individual who has attained perfect enlightenment but delays entry into final nirvana in order to make possible the salvation of all other sentient beings. The bodhisattva transfers merit built up over many lifetimes to less fortunate creatures. The key attributes of this social saint are compassion and loving-kindness.Theravada was the only tradition among the so-called Eighteen Schools of early Buddhism to survive the first centuries after the Buddha's death in the 5th century B.C. The Theravada school traces its descent from the original sangha, or monastic community that first followed the Buddha. Its canon of scripture consists of the Tipitaka (Three Baskets), the first great compendium of Buddhist writings, composed in the Pali language. Theravada tends toward doctrinal conservatism, exemplified in a cautious interpretation of its canon. The goal of the Theravadin, or devotee of Theravada, is to become an arhat, a sage who has achieved nirvana (enlightenment) and will never be reborn.

Mahayana traditionally prefers the figure of the bodhisattva - who, out of compassion, helps others toward salvation - to the arhat, who is concerned chiefly with his own salvation. Theravada claims to abide by the original teachings of the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. Theravada doctrine reveres the Buddha as a single supremely gifted, yet mortal, teacher, in contrast to the succession of transcendent beings postulated by Mahayana. Some Theravada scriptures list other Buddhas, but in general the emphasis is on the one historical Buddha, on the grounds that no universe can bear more than one Buddha without shattering.

V-The spread of Buddhism

Buddhism spread rapidly throughout the land of its birth. Missionaries dispatched by King Ashoka introduced the religion to southern India and to the northwest part of the subcontinent. According to inscriptions from the Ashokan period, missionaries were sent to countries along the Mediterranean, although without success.King Ashoka’s son Mahinda and daughter Sanghamitta are credited with the conversion of Sri Lanka. From the beginning of its history there, Theravada was the state religion of Sri Lanka where the most famous trace of Buddha still exist; that is one of his teeth. According to tradition, Theravada was carried to Myanmar from Sri Lanka during the reign of Ashoka, but no firm evidence of its presence there appears until the 5th century ad. From Myanmar, Theravada spread to the area of modern Thailand in the 6th century. It was adopted by the Thai people when they finally entered the region from southwestern China between the 12th and 14th centuries. With the rise of the Thai Kingdom, it was adopted as the state religion.

Theravada was adopted by the royal house in Laos during the 14th century. Both Mahayana and Hinduism had begun to influence Cambodia by the end of the 2nd century ad. After the 14th century, however, under Thai influence, Theravada gradually replaced the older establishment as the primary religion in Cambodia. About the beginning of the Christian era, Buddhism was carried to Central Asia. From there it entered China along the trade routes by the early 1st century ad. Although opposed by the Confucian orthodoxy and subject to periods of persecution in 446, 574-77, and 845, Buddhism was able to take root, influencing Chinese culture and, in turn, adapting itself to Chinese ways.

The major influence of Chinese Buddhism ended with the great persecution of 845, although the meditative Zen, or Ch’an (from Sanskrit dhyana, “meditation”), sect and the devotional Pure Land sect continued to be important. From China, Buddhism continued its spread. Confucian authorities discouraged its expansion into Vietnam, but Mahayana’s influence there was beginning to be felt as early as ad 189. According to traditional sources, Buddhism first arrived in Korea from China in ad 372. From this date Korea was gradually converted through Chinese influence over a period of centuries. Buddhism was carried into Japan from Korea. It was known to the Japanese earlier, but the official date for its introduction is usually given as ad 552. It was proclaimed the state religion of Japan in 594 by Prince Shotoku. Buddhism was first introduced into Tibet through the influence of foreign wives of the king, beginning in the 7th century ad. By the middle of the next century, it had become a significant force in Tibetan culture.

A key figure in the development of Tibetan Buddhism was the Indian monk Padmasambhava, who arrived in Tibet in 747. His main interest was the spread of Tantric Buddhism, which became the primary form of Buddhism in Tibet. Indian and Chinese Buddhists vied for influence, and the Chinese were finally defeated and expelled from Tibet near the end of the 8th century. Some seven centuries later Tibetan Buddhists had adopted the idea that the abbots of its great monasteries were reincarnations of famous bodhisattvas. Thereafter, the chief of these abbots became known as the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lamas ruled Tibet as a theocracy from the middle of the 17th century until the seizure of Tibet by China in 1950. As Al-Suhmurani and Coller say, Buddhists count today more than 400 millions persons. They mainly reside in India, Nepal, China, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia. And they constitute the majority of the population in Burma or Myanmar, Central Asia, Tibet, Thailand, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, North Korea, South Korea, Laos, and so forth…

VI-Buddhist aphorisms

First of all, Buddhists firmly believe that this world is vain and empty; that our earthly life is illusive and deceptive; that nihility is always around at any time and any place; and that this same nihility destroys all the obstacles that separate or discriminate between people according to their classes, identities and worldly positions. And it is believed that the last expression Buddha Sakyamuni uttered is that every organic body is mortal. The ultimate Buddhist objective is to free the soul from all pains and all vanities and to, eventually, terminate the endless cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth which is achieved through the purification of one’s spirit from all desires and inclinations even from the desire of existence. Here comes the belief in the enlightened state of Nirvana and the complete union with the Buddha that we have previously dealt with.

In the Circle of Knowledge, Al-Bustani also says that the fundamental element that stimulated Buddha’s divinity is sufferings. He found that labor, longevity, sickness, death, hardships, helplessness, separation from love ones, etc… he found that all of these matters are painful and if a person wanted to be released from such agony, he must then abandon his psychological and physical cravings and desires.

In brief, the Buddhist literature greatly enjoins Buddhists to keep away from evil, carry out all good deeds, and refine the mind. As for myths, sacrifices, offerings, disciplines, mysteries, philosophy, and priestly system; they were introduced later to Buddhism as time went on, in different countries and under different circumstances.Buddhist aphorisms or teachings, intended to provide ethical guidance, included a collection of 250 commandments ten of which are the most essential and they are - as the Circle of Knowledge stated - : don’t kill, don’t steal, be chaste, don’t lie, don’t get drunk, don’t eat after midday, don’t sing or dance, avoid any ornamented clothes, don’t use large beds, don’t accept precious metals. Another five precepts concentrate on the respect that should be presented to the Buddha, the legislation, and the priests.

Maintaining an honest behavior, preserving a good health, and making sure to acquire a certain level of education are enough qualities to join the monastic order even at a very young age. The novice is required not to eat but leftovers, to wear stained rags as a piece of clothing, to live next to trees, to utilize the urine of cows as medicine, and finally to never brag about supernatural powers. Buddhist monks always wear yellow or orange robes as a sign of their souls’ enlightenment and brightness. The clothing of monks is constituted of vest worn under the robe that reaches their knees and that is tightened on top of the left shoulder. This costume is worn even at night, and whoever loses his robe would be considered as having lost his priestly quality. The disparity between countries, sects, and priestly ranks or degrees has resulted in a clothing dissimilarity - that is what the Dhammapada (Way of Truth) stated and what Doctor Ra’ouf Shalabi mentioned in his appendix.

The Lamas - the Tibetan or Mongolian Buddhist monks - used to put on a crimson or purple piece of clothing. Moreover, they used to cut precious and modern materials into pieces then sprinkle them with dust as a literal implementation of their legislation texts. People who wear the yellow uniform are supposed to “purify their bodies from within; otherwise, they won’t be worthy enough to wear these clothes.” Buddhists believe that deeds and their ethical consequences follow the human being and motivate him to work; and since the inner purity is the stimulator, “the consequences of one’s deeds follow the catalyst for work, just like the wheels of a carriage follow the hooves of the animal that pulls it.” On that account, asceticism and sound mind become two powerful weapons that can stand firmly and resolutely against the waves of instincts and impulses to get, eventually, liberated from the yoke of cravings. To the Buddha, the virtue is the ultimate end that each person should seek after. The texts of the dharma - moral system or eternal truth in Buddhism - said: “Whomsoever strives for his aims and objectives based on virtues, gets stronger for he enjoyed a sound and reasonable mind and ridded himself from the worldly attachments and desires.”

All the more so, the Buddha regarded asceticism and self-denial as the advisable path of sage men in order to get away from dark and gloomy roads and to find the right way towards light: “Let every wise man be ready to abandon the somber path and to head towards light. And when he forsakes his home and find no place to reside in; he would be, indeed, in the right path of asceticism and self-denial.” From forests a Buddhist should make a home, a place where he would be pleased for no human being will disturb his peace and isolation. The Dhammapada says: “The forest is the place that ensures happiness for a pure and virtuous human being. He will no longer meet ordinary people for he had liberated his soul from its drives and impulses and abandoned any search to satisfy its desires. Comfort, happiness and serenity will eventually find their way to his heart.”Verily, Buddhism had deeply affected people’s convictions and beliefs. Some of them had, actually, led the life of isolation just to escape the confrontation of hardships and adversities.

Buddhists say: “The best between a person who had imprisoned thousand people and another who had imprisoned the cravings of his soul is the latter. Certainly, holding sway over your desires is a lot harder and better than holding sway over other people. And the one who has control over himself is the one who can purify his soul and can free it from sins.”As for the way Buddhist society treated women, we notice that it regarded them as inferior human beings and dealt with them with great negativity. In fact, the call to lead a monastic and isolated life and the call to forsake society and live in forests; those calls and rituals preached by the Buddha had a bad influence on the nature of the relationship between men and women. As a matter of fact, the Buddha advised men to be careful and very attentive when approaching women.In a nutshell, we can deduce that, in the beginning, the Buddhism founded by the Buddha did not impose a particular motto or maxim on its followers nor did it oblige them to offer special worship. However, after his death, Buddhism soon buckled down to practicing a set of worship and rites and to building temples.

Buddha renounced and fought the caste system that divided society into classes. He believed in transmigration, and made from asceticism, self-denial and isolation a pattern of life. He called his followers to head in that pattern and to adopt the harsh and strict monastic order in order to liberate themselves from the cravings and desires of their souls. So, in a word, according to the Buddha, freedom lay in resorting to forests and nature for meditation; a way that turned out to be very negative in resolving difficulty and defying the challenges of life.

Hinduism

I- The rise of Hinduism

People who perform methodical research into the history of India find it real hard to identify India ’s periods of stability; however, it is very likely that by the 6th century B.C., the country started to experience such periods. India knew lots of migrations and witnesses the influx of various human races among which Indo-Aryan tribes, coming from the coasts of the Caucasian sea, were the most distinguished. Those eminent tribes paved the way to various developments in India such as the rise of Hinduism. After numerous struggles and conflicts, between the people who tried to subdue India , Indo-Aryan tribes ended up by entering into the fabric of the Indian community. Some historians believe that the word ‘Aryan’ is taken from the Sanskrit language - the ancient Indian language - and it means ‘the honorable man.’

Very rapidly, the Aryans started to interact with the Dravidians - the indigenous inhabitants of India - allowing India ’s pattern of religion, beliefs and adorations of deities to take place. What is very notable, as well, is the similarity between the way they articulate language and the way European words are pronounced; something that goes back to the unity of the linguistic, cultural and human origin - Indians call God (Dava); in Latin language, He is called (Deus); in French, He is called (Dieu); and so forth.

As for the religious Indian literature works, it had been written down over different periods of time and it was until the 8th century B.C. that people started to learn about them. These literature works are called the ‘Veda’; a word meaning ‘The Texts or Books of Wisdom’. And it really remarkable that the collection of Hindu sacred texts ‘Vedas’ is not ascribed to a single person; nay, it is the fruit of the heritage of all the peoples who integrated together over times forming one melting pot society.

The origin name of Hinduism is ‘Dhorma’. During ancient times, it was called Sentana; and it was just until recently that it took the name of ‘Hinduism’ embodying by that culture, religion, customs and traditions.

II- Fundamental principles of Hinduism
When you delve thoroughly duisminto the principles of Hinduism concerning divinity, you find yourself plunging into more complications and confusions because sources and references will reveal to you thousands of sanctified gods; each one of them has only one mission to accomplish.Nevertheless, Brahma is regarded as the most important god in Hindus’ religious beliefs. In ‘the Circle of Knowledge’, Al-Bustani spoke about the etymology of the word ‘Brahma’ which is disputed among scholars. According to him, it is a Persian compound word made up of ‘Bray’ meaning ‘the exaltedness’ and ‘Mah’ meaning ‘the great’ or ‘Mayh’ meaning ‘the overarching and the overshadowing’; those words are meant to designate the hollow celestial sphere that never changes; neither in form nor in position. This sphere is always fixed and it embraces the shining stars lying underneath it. On the other hand, other scholars state that the word ‘Brahma’ has a Syncretic root deriving from the word ‘Barma.’ And ‘Barma’ is a word of neither feminine nor masculine form meaning that the implied god is an epicene; he either possesses both male and female characteristics, or lacks them both.

In ‘The Story of Civilization’ Will Durant speaks about the nature of Gods in Hinduism: “The masses of Gods are thronged together in the cemetery of the grandees in India ; and if we set about counting the names of these gods, it might take us hundreds of volumes to do so. According to their nature, some of these gods are very close to be angels, some of them might be demons, some of them could be meteoritic galaxies such as the sun, some of them are amulets, etc… you will find amongst them a great number of animals or birds because Indians do not depict large differences between the animal and the human being; they think of the animal as a creature of spirit the same as the human being… All this variety of deities had interlaced their threads in an intricate pattern forming a single web of non-restricted limits called Karma - the Hindu and Buddhist philosophy according to which the quality of people’s current and future lives is determined by their behavior in this and in previous lives – the reincarnation of souls. Among these gods, you find the elephant had turned into the god ‘Ganesha’ considered as the son of Shiva and as the epitome of the animal nature of human beings… although monkeys and snakes represent a source of terror, they were regarded as gods too. Considering that a single bite may lead to a certain and quick death, Hindus consecrate snakes, called Naja, in a very special way. In many parts of India, you find people hold each year a big religious ceremony aiming at glorying snakes; outside snakes burrows, Hindus put their offerings mainly composed of milk and bananas; not to mention that temples, especially in East Misur, were built to worship snakes.

However, this account of the events contradicts Al-Bayrouni’s viewpoint on the subject which states that monotheism and the idea of the pure God is the prevailing doctrine in the Hindu system of beliefs. He describes the situation as follows: “Hindus believe in God, the One, alone, the Eternal who has no beginning and no end, the One who chooses to do or not to do, the Capable and the Wise, the Alive and the Generator of lives, the Resort and the Sustainer, the Isolated in His kingdom from all contaminated things, the One who resembles nothing and nothing resembles him… He is the One who needs no reward; He is the Eternal and the Unique; He who has the peace that we hope for and the power that we fear and revere.”

As for Al-Bustani, he says: “Brahma is the same sanctified Brahma of Indians after he set up his works. He is as well the third person of the Indian Trinity which means that Brahma emanates from himself three times in three persons with one person each time. In his first emanation he becomes Brahma, in the second ‘Shnu’ and in the third ‘Sywa’.

Correspondingly, Doctor Ihssan Haqqi seems to approve this favorable opinion in his work on the translated version of the introduction of Hindus’ holy book or Manu Smriti -Laws of Manu. He says: Hindus believe in monotheism; in the One God who has three assistants running his realm; and those are: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.”

However, the most likely to be true is that Hindus believe in the divine trinity composed of the three gods: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva; and each one of those gods carries out a specified mission to fulfill.

A- Brahma: Brahma is called (Sang Hay Ang) in general and in the Sanskrit language he is addressed as (Utpeti). In Hindu mythology, Brahma is believed to be the creator of the universe and that is why legends were made about the process of his own creation. In “the world of religions,” Hamid Faozi said: “Brahma is thought to be a self-existent and to have evolved the world in his own way (from an egg): After long meditations and deep thoughts, Brahma was able to produce a fertile idea from which a golden egg evolved. As a result, Brahma was created from that egg and this is why he is regarded as the creator and the created.” Nonetheless, although the attribute of creative activity is ascribed to Brahma and despite of the high-ranked status he enjoys in the canon of Hindus, the truth is that he plays almost no part at all in Hindus rituals and sacraments.

B- Vishnu: Vishnu is popularly regarded as the preserver (or redeemer) of the universe; and in the Hindu language, he is addressed as (Shtiti). In his book: ‘The Ancient Eastern Culture”, Coller describes Vishnu as the god full of love; the love that nourishes and sustains life. Vishnu is frequently said to have a human or mortal form (avatar) which incarnates good and salvation for all the humankind. And to accomplish that specific mission - as Hindus believe - Vishnu receives assistance from other gods amongst whom Rama and Krishna are the most important. All the more so, Vishnu enjoys a very eminent position in Hindus’ rituals and ceremonies.

C- Shiva: Shiva is a Hindu god who personifies the destructive force of the universe. As he is represented as the destroyer, his mission would then be in complete opposition with that of Vishnu. In Hindus’ native language, Shiva is referred to as (An Sang Kan Par).

In Hindu mythology - as described in ‘The Story of Civilization’ - Shiva is “primarily the god of mercilessness and destruction, he symbolizes the cosmic force that works, time and again, on distorting all the images from which the truth of the universe is generated, all the living cells, all the organic creatures, all the genera, all the thoughts, all what the human hands had ever created, all the orbits, everything…”Indeed, the Hindus, who consider Shiva as the god of destruction and obliteration, tried to interpret that destruction as a blessing or a mercy in itself. As Coller states in “The Ancient Eastern Culture’, when Hindus spoke about Shiva they said: “He is the benevolent god of the divine blessing that can eradicate the contaminating aspects of poverty which are manifested in the deficiencies and the imperfections of the restrained spirit. In the palm of his upper left hand, Shiva holds a tongue of flame representing the force of destruction which had been related to him for so long.”Likewise, the religion of Hinduism is based upon a divine Trimurti composed of: Brahma; the creator, Vishnu; the preserver and Shiva; the destroyer. This Hindu trinity of deities has different avatars - incarnation in other gods - such as Krishna , Rama, Buddha, and Kalki. And if we want to learn more about the functions of these gods as Hindus believe, we will find that they regard Krishna as the god who aims at establishing peace and Buddha or Yuhhi the god who spreads out knowledge and education that lead to serenity. As for Kalki; he is the awaited god in Hinduism, the one who didn’t arrive so far because the time of his incarnation is yet to come.

III- The quality of the Afterlife
As for the question of the afterlife, Hinduism does not believe - as Al-Suhmurani says in the book “Min Quamous Al-‘Adian” -in an another life where there are heaven and hell or by punishment and reward. Indeed, they believe in the Samsara or transmigration - Hindu cycle of death and rebirth - where souls pass from one body to another. The precise quality of the new birth is determined by the accumulated merit and demerit that result from all the actions, or karma, that the soul has committed in its past life or lives. All Hindus believe that karma accrues in this way; they also believe that if the person leads a life of good deeds and virtues with a renunciation of all worldly desires, his soul will achieve release (moksha) from this entire cycle of lives to be united with the Universal Soul, also called Supreme Being, or else it will remain forever stuck in this cyclical process wandering from one body to another.

Thus, Hindus take more care of the soul because they believe that souls can reach perfection unlike bodies, which are characterized only by their defects. Hindus maintain that in order to achieve a certain level of purification, the body must benefit from the presence of the soul in it, and that is why they adopted the ritual of burning the body after death, which they consider to be a final terminal.

Indeed, the faculty of senses cannot fulfill its functions if the Atman - essence of the individual - is not the leading power. The origin of this Atman is Brahma (Sang Hay Ang) who considers it as the radiant rays of the sun; the rays that widely extend everywhere all through the lifetime and all across the planet.In spite of being perfect, the soul in Hinduism does not reach immortality as an independent entity; nay, its salvation is acquired through practicing “Yoga.” The “Yoga” is a harsh system of exercise inflicting the body with a physical pain for the purpose of teaching the soul patience and discipline. “Yoga” is a Sanskrit word meaning “the yoke” and it was called so because it saves the soul from the yoke of the body and the yoke of worldly desires.The yoga promotes the unity of the individual with the Supreme Being through a system of spiritual rituals and physical postures or exercises, or through offering sacrifices that honor gods. Furthermore, the yoga claims that one life is not enough to attain that unity because according to the karma belief the evildoings of a human being necessitate some successive reincarnations in human or animal forms.

On this basis, we may say that Hindus are not in accord with the Divine Revelations, especially when it comes to the question of the creator and the last day. The greater and lesser Hindu gods are worshiped in a number of concentric circles of public and private devotion. Amongst the most fundamental ceremonies for every Hindu are those that involve the rites of passage such as the funeral ceremonies celebrated at the Ganges River where Hindus sprinkle the ashes of their dead after subjecting them to incineration for interring corpses is not an adopted custom in Hinduism. Moreover, the Ganges is regarded as a holy river that people head to for pilgrimage each year in order to get purified with its water.Hindus believe that cows are sacred and thus, they abstain themselves from eating beef meat. In fact, cows wander freely in the streets of the cities without any disturbance or restrictions; subsequently, so many car and train accidents had occurred in India as a result of a sudden and quick braking which is necessary to show reverence for a cow crossing over. So, Hindus leave their cows strolling leisurely in the country and the only benefit they draw from their cattle is drinking its milk and utilizing its excrements as a material to set fire. Special respect is accorded to cows by Hindus to the extent that the urine of the animal is sometimes used as a cure for diseases just like medicines; it is also used in temples as a complementary object for ceremonies when priests put the urine in tubes and sprinkle it on the crowd. Once a cow is dead, it must be buried reverently according to the religious rites and celebrations.

IV- The Hindu Texts
As we have previously mentioned, the religious texts of the Indians - the Vedas - were not attributed to a sole person. “The Veda” or “The Weda” is a Sanskrit word meaning “the knowledge” and it represents a wide anthology or an encyclopedia encompassing lots of information about the land of India and its people over many centuries starting mainly at 2500 B.C.It took many stages in order to reach the final version of the Vedas. Before it was written down, the Veda meant ‘to meditate’; and after it was recorded, turning out to be the real reference for the history and the heritage of India as for the religious conceptions of Hindu people. The Vedas became the ultimate canonical authority for all Hindus; it organized the lives of its followers leading them towards the path of reaching the required knowledge.

Durant tends to believe that the first people who embarked on writing down the Vedas were some Indian tradesmen who belonged to the Dravidian sect the thing that made these writings - as it seems - an object for commercial and management purposes. So, the people who originally promoted that art were indeed tradesmen and not priests.

Accordingly, Al-Suhmurani concludes that the evolution of writing down the Vedas accompanied the evolution of the Sanskrit language itself. Most likely, that delay in recording the collection of the Vedas was the cause that deprived researchers of the great sources of knowledge concerning the ancient history of India .Actually, it appears that the Hindu priests - Brahmins - had encouraged the documentation of the Vedas to use them as religious weapons ensuring them power, control and prestigious status especially after they established the basis of the hierarchical social system making it inseparable from religion.Verily, the Vedas were not constituted of one book only; nay, it was a collection of fourteen books among which the “Manu Smriti” also called “The Laws of Manu” was the most important one. This book was translated into Arabic by Ihssan Haqqi who endeavors, in his introduction, to clearly reveal all the confusions and disharmonies that lie underneath. He says: “If we want to describe the “Manu Smriti”, we say that it is an accumulation of disharmonies because once we notice that; in its legislation, the book reaches the highest levels of sanity, awareness, tastefulness, and reasoning; then again, we remark that it suddenly slopes down to the most ridiculous levels and most shameful trivialities… if that is to indicate something, it truly indicates that this book had been written over discontinuous periods of time by very different people; different in matters of knowledge, reason and awareness.”

V- Hindu class systemthe majority of the Indian people adopts Hinduism as religion; the religion that had evolved along with the evolution of India itself. And as we have said earlier, Hinduism is not just a religion; indeed, through its conceptions and books, it represents the encompassment of the cultural history of India .

As Al-Suhmurani says, the religious Hindu system had mixed with the rest of the systems such as the political, the social, and the economic organisms to achieve an underlying objective. In order to guarantee themselves power and control, religious and political personages sanctified the social class system. As a result, the castes were founded dividing the Hindu society into four main hereditary classes called (varnas) and dictating the social position and status of people.