Religion Plays a Certain Role

Muhammad was the founder of the Islamic religion. He lived from 570-632 AD. He was inspired by God. The sacred book for the Islamic religion is the Qur'an/Koran. Muhammad wanted to restore the teachings of Abraham, Moses and Jesus. There are about 1.6-1.7 billion Muslims, 75-90% are Sunnis and 10-20% are Shiites. The Islamic religion is most prominent in Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Middle East. Many of the Muslims make Pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina(Saudi Arabia). Five times a day the Muslims have to stop what they are doing and pray in the direction of the Masque. The men have to make a pilgrimage (hajj). Muslims are very serious about their faith.

Siddhartha Gautama was the founder of the Buddhist religion. He taught mainly in the Indian subcontinent. He lived from 563-483 BC. He was known as the enlightened teacher, but not viewed as a god. He sought to end suffering among sentient beings and wanted to eliminate ignorance and cravings.Buddhists were neither polytheistic or monotheistic, nirvana(highest happiness) was achieved from within. They did not have a holy book, they believed in the Four Noble Truths. The first one was, suffering is an ingrained part of existence  Second, the origin of suffering is craving for sensuality. Third, suffering can be ended. Last, follow the eightfold path. Some of the eightfold path was, having the right view, following the right path, having the right speech etc. Right now there are about 376 million Buddhists centering around China, Japan, Mongolia, and many southwestern Asian countries.

 Hinduism is the oldest religion and the most diverse. Hindus do not claim anyone as prophet. They just believe in the way of life. The sacred texts that they use is called the Vedas-philosophical epics such as Bhagavad-Gita. In India, there are about 980 million people which is over 80% of the country that is Hindu.

Judaism is the oldest surviving Monotheistic religion, which is dated back to about 3000 years to the covenant between God and His people. The sacred book that they use is the Torah and the Talmud both of which include codes of the law. Thirteen point four million Jews follow the religion, 42% live in Israel, 42% live in the U.S and Canada and the rest in Europe. Judaism is an Abrahamic religion. Their central figure is God just like the religion of Christianity and Islam.