Concept

Sikhism

The monotheistic religion founded by Guru Nanak in the Punjab, which teaches devotion to one formless God, honest work, sharing, and liberation from rebirth by God's grace.

Intro

Sikhism is a religion that began about 500 years ago in the Punjab, a region now split between India and Pakistan. It was founded by Guru Nanak, who was born in 1469. Today there are roughly 25 to 30 million Sikhs, most of them in the Indian state of Punjab, with large communities in Britain, Canada and the United States. The word "Sikh" means "learner" or "disciple."

Sikhs believe in one God, who is the Creator of everything, has no form, was never born, and is present everywhere. Sikhs often call God Waheguru, "the Wonderful Lord." The scripture of Sikhism opens with the words Ik Onkar, "there is one God."

After Guru Nanak came nine more human Gurus, or teachers. The tenth, Guru Gobind Singh, declared before his death in 1708 that there would be no more human Gurus. From then on, the Guru would be the scripture itself, the Guru Granth Sahib. Sikhs treat it with the honor due to a living teacher.

Sikh life rests on three simple duties: remember God's name, earn an honest living, and share with others. Every Sikh place of worship, the gurdwara, runs a free kitchen, the langar, where anyone of any religion or background can sit and eat together. Committed Sikhs who have been initiated into the Khalsa keep five articles of faith, including uncut hair, which is why many Sikh men wear turbans.

Sikhs believe in karma and rebirth, as Hindus and Buddhists do. But they teach that God's grace is what finally frees a person from the cycle and brings them into union with God.

Christians share a lot with Sikhs: one Creator God, a rejection of idols, a stress on grace, honest work, and care for the poor. The big differences are about who Jesus is, whether God became a man, whether we live once or many times, and how sin is forgiven.

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In full

Sikhism (in Punjabi Sikhi, and in its teaching Gurmat, "the Guru's way") is a monotheistic religion founded by Guru Nanak (1469-1539) in the Punjab and shaped by nine successor Gurus, ending with Guru Gobind Singh (d. 1708), after which the scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, is held to be the eternal Guru. It teaches one God, without form, unborn and self-existent, Creator and sustainer of all, who is known through the divine Name (naam) and the Guru's word (shabad). It accepts karma and rebirth but holds that liberation (mukti) comes by God's grace (nadar), through loving remembrance of the Name and the overcoming of self-centeredness (haumai), and that it can be realized while still living. It rejects idol worship, caste, ritualism and withdrawal from the world in favor of the householder's life of devotion, honest labor and service. Its initiated order, the Khalsa (founded 1699), keeps the five articles of faith known as the five Ks. Estimates put the worldwide Sikh population at roughly 25 to 30 million.

This page describes Sikhism on its own terms first and then gives the Christian assessment, clearly labelled. The codex does not yet have a dedicated Sikhism comparison page; the Sikh ending is set beside the others in World Religions Compared by Their Ultimate Ending.

History and founder

Guru Nanak (1469-1539)

• Birth. Nanak was born in 1469 in Talwandi, west of Lahore, a town now called Nankana Sahib, in present-day Pakistan. His family was Hindu, of the Khatri caste, in a region under Muslim rule.
• The call. Sikh tradition, recorded in the hagiographies called janamsakhis, says that around the age of thirty Nanak went to bathe in a river near Sultanpur and disappeared for three days. He returned saying that he had been in God's presence, and his first words are remembered as "There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim," meaning that God looks past religious labels to the heart.
• Travels. He then made long journeys, traditionally across India and beyond, teaching through hymns sung with his Muslim companion, the musician Mardana.
• Kartarpur. In his later years he settled at Kartarpur, on the Ravi river, where he founded a community that farmed, worshipped and ate together. He died there in 1539, having appointed a disciple, Lehna, as his successor under the name Angad.

Sikhs do not regard Guru Nanak as God or as an incarnation of God. He is the Guru through whom God's word was revealed. Sikh teaching holds that the same divine light passed from Nanak through each of his nine successors.

The ten Gurus

The Khalsa and after

• 1699. At the spring festival of Vaisakhi at Anandpur, Guru Gobind Singh called for volunteers willing to give their lives. The five who came forward, the Panj Pyare ("five beloved ones"), were initiated with sweetened water stirred with a double-edged sword, founding the Khalsa ("the pure"), an order of initiated Sikhs. Khalsa men take the name Singh ("lion") and women Kaur ("princess").
• 1708. Before his death at Nanded, Guru Gobind Singh declared that the line of human Gurus was complete and that the scripture would be the Guru from then on.
• The Sikh Empire. Maharaja Ranjit Singh united the Punjab into a Sikh-ruled state in the early nineteenth century, which the British annexed in 1849.
• Modern history. The partition of India in 1947 divided the Punjab and displaced millions of Sikhs. In June 1984 the Indian army stormed the Golden Temple complex to remove armed militants; the assault and the anti-Sikh violence that followed the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi later that year remain deep wounds in Sikh memory.

Is Sikhism a blend of Hinduism and Islam?

A common outside description calls Sikhism a synthesis of Hindu devotion and Muslim monotheism. Sikhs reject this. They regard Guru Nanak's teaching as a fresh revelation from God, not a mixture, and point out that the Gurus criticized the rituals and claims of both. Historians do note real connections: the Guru Granth Sahib includes hymns by Hindu and Muslim saints such as Kabir, Namdev, Ravidas and Sheikh Farid, and Nanak's vocabulary overlaps with the North Indian devotional (Sant) tradition. Both points can be held together: the Gurus spoke in the religious language of their world while teaching something they understood as new.

Core teachings

One God

The scripture opens with the Mool Mantar, the "root formula," which Sikhs regard as the foundation of their faith. In transliteration it reads: Ik Onkar, Sat Naam, Karta Purakh, Nirbhau, Nirvair, Akal Murat, Ajuni, Saibhang, Gur Prasad. Translations vary, but its sense is:

• Ik Onkar, there is one God (the numeral "one" begins the scripture);
• Sat Naam, whose Name is Truth;
• Karta Purakh, the Creator;
• Nirbhau, Nirvair, without fear and without enmity;
• Akal Murat, timeless in form;
• Ajuni, Saibhang, unborn, self-existent;
• Gur Prasad, known by the Guru's grace.

God in Sikh teaching is both beyond all qualities (nirgun) and present in creation with qualities (sargun). God is personal enough to be addressed in love, praised as Beloved, Husband, Father and Mother, and gracious toward the devotee. Because God is unborn (ajuni), Sikhism denies that God ever takes birth as a human being.

Hukam, the divine order

All of creation operates under God's hukam, the divine command or order. To live in harmony with the hukam, rather than against it in self-will, is the Sikh ideal.

Haumai, the human problem

The root human problem is haumai, literally "I-I," self-centeredness or ego, which separates the person from God. Out of it come the five vices: lust (kaam), anger (krodh), greed (lobh), attachment (moh) and pride (ahankar). The person who lives by his own mind is a manmukh; the one who turns toward the Guru is a gurmukh.

Naam, the divine Name

The cure for haumai is the Name of God. Naam is more than a word; it is God's presence and nature as revealed. Remembering and meditating on the Name (naam simran) purifies the mind and draws the soul toward God.

Karma, rebirth and grace

Sikhism accepts karma and the cycle of birth and death (see Karma and Reincarnation). Karma shapes the circumstances of each birth. But karma does not save. The Japji Sahib (stanza 4) contrasts the body received through karma with the door of liberation opened by God's glance of grace (nadar). Grace is God's free gift, though Sikh teaching expects the devotee to respond with devotion, discipline and good deeds.

Mukti, liberation

The goal is mukti, release from rebirth and union with God, often pictured as a drop of water returning to the ocean. Sikh teaching stresses jivan mukti, liberation while still alive, in which the person, freed from haumai, lives wholly attuned to God's will. In the Japji Sahib, Guru Nanak describes spiritual progress through a series of realms culminating in Sach Khand, the realm of Truth, where the formless God dwells.

Equality and the householder's life

The Gurus rejected caste distinctions, and the langar, where all sit in rows on the floor and eat the same food, was a direct challenge to them. They taught the equality of women and men in worship. They rejected withdrawal from the world, celibacy as a higher path, and austerities: the ideal is the householder who works, marries, raises a family and serves others while remembering God.

The three pillars

Sikh life is often summed up in three duties attributed to Guru Nanak:

1. Naam japna, remembering and meditating on God's Name;
2. Kirat karni, earning an honest living by one's own work;
3. Vand chhakna, sharing what one has with others.

Scriptures

• The Guru Granth Sahib. Compiled by Guru Arjan in 1604 as the Adi Granth, with the hymns of Guru Tegh Bahadur added later, and installed by Guru Gobind Singh as the eternal Guru. The standard edition runs to 1,430 pages (angs), written in the Gurmukhi script, and is almost entirely poetry arranged by musical measures (ragas), meant to be sung. It contains the hymns of six of the Gurus alongside those of Hindu and Muslim saints. It opens with Guru Nanak's Japji Sahib, recited by devout Sikhs each morning.
• How it is honored. In the gurdwara the Granth is placed on a raised platform under a canopy, a whisk (chaur) is waved over it, and worshippers bow before it. At night it is carried to a resting room. A continuous reading of the whole scripture, the Akhand Path, takes about 48 hours.
• The Dasam Granth. A second collection attributed to Guru Gobind Singh. Some of its compositions are used in daily prayer and initiation, while the authorship of other parts is debated among Sikhs.
• The Rehat Maryada. The Sikh code of conduct issued by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in the twentieth century, which sets out personal and community practice.

The Khalsa and the five Ks

Initiated Sikhs (amritdhari) receive amrit, the sweetened water of the 1699 ceremony, and keep five articles of faith, each beginning in Punjabi with "k":

Initiated Sikhs also commit to avoid tobacco and intoxicants, adultery, and eating meat slaughtered by ritual methods, and not to cut their hair. Many Sikhs who are not initiated still keep uncut hair and wear the turban.

Practice

• Daily prayer. Recitation of set hymns in the morning, evening and at night, beginning with the Japji Sahib.
• The gurdwara. The "door of the Guru," open to all. Worship centers on kirtan (singing the scripture's hymns), reading from the Granth, and Ardas, the standing congregational prayer.
• Langar. The free communal kitchen attached to every gurdwara, staffed by volunteers and open to anyone.
• Seva. Selfless service, from cooking in the langar to cleaning shoes at the gurdwara door.
• The Golden Temple. The Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, built under Guru Arjan in the midst of a sacred pool, is the holiest Sikh shrine. Its four entrances are traditionally read as a sign of openness to people from every direction and background.
• Festivals. Vaisakhi (commemorating the founding of the Khalsa), the gurpurabs marking the Gurus' births and martyrdoms, and Bandi Chhor Divas.
• What Sikhs avoid. Idol worship, pilgrimage or fasting as means of earning merit, caste discrimination, and ritual for its own sake.

The afterlife and the ending

Sikhism teaches that the soul passes through many births according to karma until, by God's grace, it is freed and united with God. Heaven and hell as places are given less weight than the state of the soul in relation to God, and Sikh teachers stress that the important question is whether one lives in God's presence now. The ending is mukti, union with God, often pictured as a drop entering the ocean; how far the individual remains distinct in that union is understood in different ways. For the comparison with other religions' endings, see World Religions Compared by Their Ultimate Ending.

Christian assessment

Everything above describes Sikhism as Sikhs understand it. What follows is the Christian assessment.

Points of contact

• One Creator God. Sikhism and Christianity both confess one God, Creator of all, eternal and self-existent: "Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah" (Deuteronomy 6:4, ASV). See Monotheism.
• God is spirit, not an image. Both reject idol worship: "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24, ASV). See Idolatry.
• Grace. Both teach that liberation is finally God's gift, not a wage. Christianity says salvation comes "not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy" (Titus 3:5, ASV).
• The problem of the self-centered heart. Haumai closely resembles what Christians call pride and sin, the self set up in God's place.
• Equality. The Sikh rejection of caste echoes the New Testament: "There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28, ASV).
• Work, service and generosity. Honest labor, care for the hungry and selfless service are honored in both.

Points of divergence

1. The Incarnation. The Mool Mantar calls God ajuni, unborn, and Sikh teaching denies that God takes birth. The center of Christianity is that God did exactly that: "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14, ASV). Sikhs may honor Jesus as a holy man, but not as God incarnate. See Incarnation.
2. The Trinity. Sikh oneness has no room for distinctions within God. Christianity confesses one God in three persons, which grounds the claim that God is love in Himself before creation. See Trinity.
3. Grace without atonement. Sikhism and Christianity both speak of grace, but Sikh grace has no act behind it that deals with guilt and justice. Christian grace is costly and historical: "being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24, ASV), so that God is both "just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26, ASV). See Atonement and Penal Substitutionary Atonement.
4. Rebirth or resurrection. Sikhism teaches many births under karma; Christianity teaches "it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment" (Hebrews 9:27, ASV), followed by bodily resurrection. See Reincarnation and Resurrection.
5. Union or communion. Sikh liberation is often pictured as a drop merging with the ocean. Christian hope is the person kept and healed, seeing God face to face in a renewed creation. See World Religions Compared by Their Ultimate Ending.
6. Assurance. Because grace comes as God's free and sovereign glance, a Sikh may hope for it without being told it has been given. Christianity grounds assurance in a finished work and a promise. See Justification by Faith.
7. Revelation. Sikhism receives God's word through the Gurus and the scripture. Christianity claims that God's final word is a person: "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (John 1:18, ASV).

Haumai and sin

The closest meeting point is also where the difference shows most clearly. Sikhism treats haumai as a disease of the mind, healed by remembering the Name. Christianity agrees that the self-centered heart is the problem, but sees it as rebellion against a personal God, which means it creates guilt that must be forgiven, not only a habit that must be overcome. The Christian remedy is therefore double: forgiveness through the cross, and a new heart given by God: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you" (Ezekiel 36:26, ASV). See Sin.

Remembering the Name

Sikh naam simran and Christian prayer both center on God's name. Christians can honor the Sikh longing to remember God at every moment. The Christian difference is that God has given a name in history: "in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved" (Acts 4:12, ASV). See Prayer and Salvation Exclusivity.

Standard Christian engagement

• Honor what deserves honor. Sikh hospitality, the langar, courage in the face of persecution and the rejection of caste are admirable. Say so.
• Start with God, not with differences. Sikhs and Christians both believe in one gracious Creator. Ask what a Sikh friend means by grace, and listen.
• Ask about guilt. "If God is gracious, what happens to the wrong I have done? Does grace simply set it aside, or is justice satisfied?" This opens the door to the cross.
• Talk about the Incarnation carefully. The claim that the unborn God became man is the greatest point of difference. Present it as God's love coming near, not as a contradiction of His greatness: "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10, ASV).
• Point to the resurrection. Christianity's claim can be tested in history. See Resurrection of Jesus and Minimal Facts Argument.
• Be respectful of articles of faith. The turban, uncut hair and kirpan carry deep meaning. Ask about them with interest rather than suspicion.

See also Lesson 4.5, Comparative Religion Engagement.

Strengths and weaknesses

Stated at its strongest before the objections land.

Strengths, on the Sikh's own terms:

• A clear monotheism and a firm rejection of idolatry, ritualism and caste.
• A strong ethic of honest work, generosity and service, embodied in the langar.
• A theology of grace in which liberation is God's gift rather than a human achievement.
• A worldly spirituality that sanctifies family life and labor instead of calling people out of the world.
• A history of courage under persecution, honored in the martyrdom of Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur.

Weaknesses, from the Christian side:

• Grace is affirmed without any act that satisfies justice, which leaves unexplained how a just God simply sets guilt aside.
• Karma and rebirth sit in tension with grace: if God is gracious, why are souls left cycling through countless births?
• The denial that God can take birth rules out in advance the event Christianity claims is historically attested.
• Union pictured as a drop entering the ocean leaves the future of the person uncertain.
• The revelation claimed through the Gurus rests on their testimony, without a public act comparable to the resurrection to confirm it.

See also

• World Religions Compared by Their Ultimate Ending, the Sikh ending beside every other
• Hinduism, the Indian tradition whose ideas of karma, rebirth and devotion Sikhism shares and reworks
• Islam, the other strict monotheism of the Gurus' world
• Buddhism, another Indian tradition of karma and rebirth, but without a Creator
• Karma, the law of consequences compared with grace
• Reincarnation, rebirth compared with resurrection
• Incarnation, the doctrine Sikhism denies and Christianity centers on
• Christ vs Other Religion-Founders, Jesus compared with other religious founders
• Atonement, how Christianity grounds grace in an act of God
• Religious Pluralism Objection, the claim that all religions teach the same thing
• World Religions, comparative-religion master hub