Hinduism and Islam are two of the world’s three largest religions. Orthodox Hinduism is the socio-religious way of life of the Hindu people of the Indian subcontinent, their diaspora, and some other regions which had Hindu influence in the ancient and medieval times. Islam is a monotheistic religion in which the supreme deity is Allah and the last prophet being Muhammad ibn Abdullah. Orthodox Hinduism mostly shares common terms with the dhārmic religions, including Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Islam shares common terms with the Abrahamic religions (those religions claiming prophet Abraham), i.e. Judaism and Christianity. The scriptures of Islam are the Qurān, which is primary book because it is considered the word of God, and the several Shia and Sunni Hadīths, which are secondary in authority, and deal with the life and acts of Islamic Prophet Muhammad. The scriptures of Orthodox Hinduism are the Shrutis (the four Vedas and their three tier of commentaries), which are considered authentic, most authoritative and Divine Revelation. Furthermore, Hinduism is also based on the Smritis (including the Ramāyana, the Bhagavad Gītā and the Purānas), which are considered by be of secondary authority and human creation.
Nevertheless, Hinduism and Islam do have many similarities, as well as differences, as discussed below.
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