Short answer
It is both. Hinduism does shape the whole of life, as Hindus say. But it also has what a religion has: scripture, worship, rites, law books, and teachings about God (﷾) and what follows death. The philosopher Radhakrishnan called it "more a way of life than a form of thought". Yet he also called it "the religion not only of the Vedas", its oldest scriptures, but of the epics and Puranas too. So the label does not end the question. If a way of life says who God (﷾) is and what happens after death, those statements are true or false. Islam is a complete way of life as well, and its word for this is deen. The real question is which way rests on the truth. Islam's answer is one God, one life and one judgement, in a Book anyone can test.
| Mark of a religion | Hindu tradition | Islam |
|---|---|---|
| A scripture with final authority | ||
| Worship | ||
| Sacred rites | ||
| A sacred law | ||
| A teaching about God (﷾) | ||
| A teaching about what follows death | ||
| Reaches all of life |
- Has it
Full explanation
The Hindu case: dharma, not a creed
Many Hindus say their tradition is a way of life, and they give real reasons. It has no single founder: one historian wrote that it "has not been made but has grown". It has no one creed. The philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan gave a well-known form of the idea in lectures at Oxford in 1926. He called Hinduism "more a way of life than a form of thought". He said it leaves thought free but asks for "a strict code of practice". A believer, an atheist, a sceptic and an agnostic may all be Hindus, he said, if they accept the Hindu system of culture and life. He also noted that the word "Hindu" first named people by where they lived, beside the Sindhu river, not by what they believed. Many Hindus prefer the word dharma, from a root meaning "to hold". It means right action, and what holds a thing in being. Many also say Sanatana Dharma, the eternal law, and Manu's law book uses those same two words. On this view dharma reaches into food, family, work and duty, so the English word "religion" is too small for it.
Turning to what he calls the practical side of Hinduism, after explaining karma, Radhakrishnan writes that it is "more a way of life than a form of thought". He says it gives absolute liberty in the world of thought but enjoins "a strict code of practice". The theist and the atheist, the sceptic and the agnostic may all be Hindus, he says, if they accept the Hindu system of culture and life. He adds that in a very real sense practice comes before theory.
Says Hinduism is hard to define: it has meant one thing to the Saivite, another to the Vaisnavite and a third to the Sakta (pp. 11-12). The people on the Indian side of the Sindhu (Indus) river were called Hindu by the Persians and others from the west, and the term had at first a territorial and not a credal meaning (p. 13). He concludes that Hinduism is "not a definite dogmatic creed" (p. 21).
Says that dharma is right action. The word comes from the root dhr, to hold, and means that which holds a thing and maintains it in being. Every form of life and every group of men has its dharma, the law of its being.
Writes that "Hinduism has not been made but has grown". He also writes that though it "has no one creed", at least two doctrines are held by nearly all who call themselves Hindus. One of these is rebirth: a life does not begin at birth or end at death, but is a link in an infinite series of lives, each shaped by the acts of earlier ones.
“Let him say what is true, let him say what is pleasing, let him utter no disagreeable truth, and let him utter no agreeable falsehood; that is the eternal law.”
What the famous line really says
The line says "more", not "instead of". It compares practice with thought. It does not say Hinduism is no religion. In the same lectures Radhakrishnan writes that "Hinduism is the religion not only of the Vedas but of the Epics and the Puranas". He calls the Vedas "the chief sacred scriptures of the Hindus". He speaks of "the Hindu faith" and "the Hindu religion". His line itself comes straight after he has explained karma, as he turns to the practical side. Swami Vivekananda spoke the same way in 1893. He told the Parliament of Religions in Chicago: "The Hindus have received their religion through their revelation, the Vedas." So two well-known modern Hindu teachers, speaking to the wider world, called it a religion. "Not a religion" goes further than they did. The slogan cannot lean on them, and it has to be tested for itself.
The first lecture is called "Religious experience: its nature and content". It speaks of "the Hindu faith" (p. 11) and calls the Vedas "the chief sacred scriptures of the Hindus" (p. 17). It says "Hinduism is the religion not only of the Vedas but of the Epics and the Puranas" (p. 20). And it says the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutra and the Gita form together the absolute standard for "the Hindu religion" (pp. 22-23).
Turning to what he calls the practical side of Hinduism, after explaining karma, Radhakrishnan writes that it is "more a way of life than a form of thought". He says it gives absolute liberty in the world of thought but enjoins "a strict code of practice". The theist and the atheist, the sceptic and the agnostic may all be Hindus, he says, if they accept the Hindu system of culture and life. He adds that in a very real sense practice comes before theory.
“The Hindus have received their religion through their revelation, the Vedas. They hold that the Vedas are without beginning and without end. It may sound ludicrous to this audience, how a book can be without beginning or end. But by the Vedas no books are meant. They mean the accumulated treasury of spiritual law discovered by different persons in different times. Just as the law of gravitation existed before its discovery, and would exist if all humanity forgot it, so with the laws that govern the spiritual world. The moral, ethical and spiritual relation between soul and souls and between individual spirits and the Father of all spirits were there before their discovery and would remain even if we forgot them. The discoverers of these laws are called Rishis, and we honor them as perfected beings, and I am glad to tell this audience that some of the very best of them were women.”
Test 1: a scripture with final authority
A religion has a scripture with final authority. Manu's law book belongs to smriti, the remembered tradition. It says "The whole Veda is the (first) source of the sacred law". It says the Veda and the law books "must not be called into question in any matter". The next verse speaks of the twice-born, the men of the three higher castes. One who scorns these books "must be cast out by the virtuous, as an atheist and a scorner of the Veda". A later verse says systems not based on the Veda "produce no reward after death". The Gita tells Arjuna, "your authority (must be) scripture". So these books do draw a line of belief, and they draw it around a scripture. There is nothing wrong in drawing one: Islam draws its own at the testimony of faith. But a line of belief around a sacred book is a mark of a religion.
“The whole Veda is the (first) source of the sacred law, next the tradition and the virtuous conduct of those who know the (Veda further), also the customs of holy men, and (finally) self-satisfaction.”
“But by Sruti (revelation) is meant the Veda, and by Smriti (tradition) the Institutes of the sacred law: those two must not be called into question in any matter, since from those two the sacred law shone forth.”
“Every twice-born man, who, relying on the Institutes of dialectics, treats with contempt those two sources (of the law), must be cast out by the virtuous, as an atheist and a scorner of the Veda.”
“All those traditions (smriti) and all those despicable systems of philosophy, which are not based on the Veda, produce no reward after death; for they are declared to be founded on Darkness.”
“He who abandoning scripture ordinances, acts under the impulse of desire, does not attain perfection, nor happiness, nor the highest goal. Therefore in discriminating between what should be done and what should not be done, your authority (must be) scripture. And knowing what is declared by the ordinances of scripture, you should perform action in this world.”
Ibn Umar reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said Islam is built on five: to bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to establish the prayer, to pay zakah, to perform the pilgrimage, and to fast the month of Ramadan.
Test 2: worship offered to someone
A religion offers worship. In the Gita, Krishna says he accepts "leaf, flower, fruit, water" offered with devotion. He tells Arjuna, "sacrifice to me, reverence me". Hindus make such offerings in homes and temples every day. An offering is more than a custom, because someone is meant to receive it. It says that a Lord is there and that He accepts it. So worship is a statement about God (﷾), made with the hands.
“Whoever with devotion offers me leaf, flower, fruit, water, that, presented with devotion, I accept from him whose self is pure.”
“On me (place) your mind, become my devotee, sacrifice to me, reverence me, you will certainly come to me. I declare to you truly, you are dear to me.”
Test 3: rites that reach past death
A religion marks life with sacred rites. Manu lists rites "prescribed by the Veda", beginning at conception. He says they "sanctify the body and purify (from sin) in this (life) and after death". A funeral hymn of the Rig Veda, which is shruti (revealed text), asks the fire to send the dead man "to the Fathers". So these texts do not treat the rites as family habit. They say the rites change what happens to a person after death, and a mere custom makes no such claim.
“With holy rites, prescribed by the Veda, must the ceremony on conception and other sacraments be performed for twice-born men, which sanctify the body and purify (from sin) in this (life) and after death.”
“Again, O Agni, to the Fathers send him who, offered in thee, goes with our oblations. Wearing new life let him increase his offspring: let him rejoin a body, Jâtavedas.”
Test 4: a sacred law with a promise
A religion gives a sacred law. The law books set rules for food, marriage, work, crime and penance, and the Gita sets out the duties of each caste. That is the kind of "strict code of practice" a Hindu can point to. But the code comes with a promise. Manu says the man who obeys the law "gains fame in this (world) and after death unsurpassable bliss". A promise about life after death is more than culture, because it will either be kept or fail. The page on caste examines what this law asks of people by birth.
“For that man who obeys the law prescribed in the revealed texts and in the sacred tradition, gains fame in this (world) and after death unsurpassable bliss.”
“The duties of Brâhmanas, Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas, and of Sûdras, too, O terror of your foes! are distinguished according to the qualities born of nature. Tranquillity, restraint of the senses, penance, purity, forgiveness, straightforwardness, also knowledge, experience, and belief (in a future world), this is the natural duty of Brâhmanas. Valour, glory, courage, dexterity, not slinking away from battle, gifts, exercise of lordly power, this is the natural duty of Kshatriyas. Agriculture, tending cattle, trade, (this) is the natural duty of Vaisyas. And the natural duty of Sûdras, too, consists in service.”
Turning to what he calls the practical side of Hinduism, after explaining karma, Radhakrishnan writes that it is "more a way of life than a form of thought". He says it gives absolute liberty in the world of thought but enjoins "a strict code of practice". The theist and the atheist, the sceptic and the agnostic may all be Hindus, he says, if they accept the Hindu system of culture and life. He adds that in a very real sense practice comes before theory.
Test 5: a teaching about God (﷾)
A religion says who God (﷾) is. In the Gita, Krishna says, "I am the producer and the destroyer of the whole universe". The Svetasvatara Upanishad, a shruti text, says of its Lord, "He is the cause". These lines are not rules of conduct. They are statements about what made the universe and who rules it. Hindu schools read them in different ways, but every one of those readings is a teaching about God (﷾). And a teaching about God (﷾) is either right or wrong.
“Know that all things have these (for their) source. I am the producer and the destroyer of the whole universe. There is nothing else, O Dhanañgaya! higher than myself; all this is woven upon me, like numbers of pearls upon a thread.”
“There is no master of his in the world, no ruler of his, not even a sign of him. He is the cause, the lord of the lords of the organs, and there is of him neither parent nor lord.”
Test 6: a teaching about what follows death
A religion says what follows death. The Gita says the embodied self casts off old bodies and "goes to others and new ones". The Chandogya Upanishad says good conduct leads to a good birth and evil conduct to an evil one. The Gita also promises a way out: the one who truly knows "is not born again". Vivekananda told his Chicago audience that "death means only a change of center from one body to another". The historian Charles Eliot wrote that Hinduism "has no one creed". Yet he found at least two doctrines held by nearly all Hindus, and rebirth is one of them. So even a tradition with no single creed has a belief near its centre.
“As a man, casting off old clothes, puts on others and new ones, so the embodied (self) casting off old bodies, goes to others and new ones.”
“Those whose conduct has been good, will quickly attain some good birth, the birth of a Brâhmana, or a Kshatriya, or a Vaisya. But those whose conduct has been evil, will quickly attain an evil birth, the birth of a dog, or a hog, or a Kandâla.”
“Whoever truly knows thus my divine birth and work, casts off (this) body and is not born again. He comes to me, O Arguna!”
“Well, then, the human soul is eternal and immortal, perfect and infinite, and death means only a change of center from one body to another. The present is determined by our past actions, and the future will be by the present; that it will go on evolving up or reverting back from birth to birth and death to death.”
Writes that "Hinduism has not been made but has grown". He also writes that though it "has no one creed", at least two doctrines are held by nearly all who call themselves Hindus. One of these is rebirth: a life does not begin at birth or end at death, but is a link in an infinite series of lives, each shaped by the acts of earlier ones.
| Test | The text |
|---|---|
| Scripture | "must not be called into question in any matter" |
| Worship | "sacrifice to me, reverence me" |
| Rites | "purify (from sin) in this (life) and after death" |
| Law | "after death unsurpassable bliss" |
| God (﷾) | "I am the producer and the destroyer of the whole universe" |
| After death | "goes to others and new ones" |
The practice rests on the teaching
Radhakrishnan wrote that practice comes before theory. In one person's life that may be so, since a child lights a lamp before he can explain it. But each act still has a reason behind it. A flower is offered because a Lord is said to accept it. A funeral rite is done because the dead are said to go on. The law is kept because bliss is promised. Take the reason away, and only a habit is left. So a way of life does not replace belief. It is belief, lived out day by day.
Turning to what he calls the practical side of Hinduism, after explaining karma, Radhakrishnan writes that it is "more a way of life than a form of thought". He says it gives absolute liberty in the world of thought but enjoins "a strict code of practice". The theist and the atheist, the sceptic and the agnostic may all be Hindus, he says, if they accept the Hindu system of culture and life. He adds that in a very real sense practice comes before theory.
“Whoever with devotion offers me leaf, flower, fruit, water, that, presented with devotion, I accept from him whose self is pure.”
“Again, O Agni, to the Fathers send him who, offered in thee, goes with our oblations. Wearing new life let him increase his offspring: let him rejoin a body, Jâtavedas.”
“For that man who obeys the law prescribed in the revealed texts and in the sacred tradition, gains fame in this (world) and after death unsurpassable bliss.”
The teaching
about God (﷾) and what follows death.
A flower is offered
because a Lord is said to accept it.
A funeral rite is done
because the dead are said to go on.
The law is kept
because bliss is promised.
True or false, whatever the label
This is the point the slogan misses. Think of a map handed down in a family. The family may call it an heirloom and not a guide. It still shows a road reaching a bridge, and the road either does or does not. Calling the map an heirloom builds no bridge. In the same way, the Gita says the self goes on to new bodies. The Qur'an says the dead man asks to be sent back and is told, "By no means!" Both cannot be right. So if Hinduism says anything about God (﷾) and death, those statements are true or false. That holds whether we call it religion, dharma, culture or a way of life. It matters because every person will die, and what comes next does not depend on a label. A label can end a conversation, but it cannot settle the question.
“As a man, casting off old clothes, puts on others and new ones, so the embodied (self) casting off old bodies, goes to others and new ones.”
“(In Falsehood will they be) Until, when death comes to one of them, he says: "O my Lord! send me back (to life),- "In order that I may work righteousness in the things I neglected." - "By no means! It is but a word he says."- Before them is a Partition till the Day they are raised up.”
"Hinduism is a way of life, not a religion."
Does it say who God (﷾) is, or what follows death?
Yes. The Gita and the Upanishads say both.
Can those statements be true or false?
Yes. The self goes on to new bodies, or the dead are not sent back. Both cannot be right.
Does the label change which one is true?
No. It is the same with religion, dharma, culture or a way of life.
So the label does not end the question. The claims have to be tested.
An open door leaves the question open
The open door is often offered as the strongest point. A believer and an atheist may both be Hindus. But a rule about who belongs is not an answer about God (﷾). He exists or He does not, and both cannot be right. If a Hindu may hold either view, then being Hindu does not tell a person which is true. So the breadth hands the biggest question back to each reader. Nor do the old books all agree with the open door, since Manu casts out the man who scorns the Veda. The Qur'an asks for more than a place to belong: "pursue not that of which thou hast no knowledge". The page "Aren't all religions paths to the same God?" takes this further.
Turning to what he calls the practical side of Hinduism, after explaining karma, Radhakrishnan writes that it is "more a way of life than a form of thought". He says it gives absolute liberty in the world of thought but enjoins "a strict code of practice". The theist and the atheist, the sceptic and the agnostic may all be Hindus, he says, if they accept the Hindu system of culture and life. He adds that in a very real sense practice comes before theory.
“Every twice-born man, who, relying on the Institutes of dialectics, treats with contempt those two sources (of the law), must be cast out by the virtuous, as an atheist and a scorner of the Veda.”
“And pursue not that of which thou hast no knowledge; for every act of hearing, or of seeing or of (feeling in) the heart will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning).”
Islam is a complete way of life too
On this point a Muslim agrees with the Hindu: faith should reach all of life. The Qur'an's word is deen, which means religion in the full sense, a complete way of life. One verse says God (﷾) has "perfected your religion", and the same verse sets rules for food. Islam is built on five pillars (Bukhari 8), yet all of life counts. The Prophet (ﷺ) said a person is rewarded for whatever he spends seeking Allah's (﷾) pleasure. That includes, he said, the morsel a man puts in his wife's mouth (Bukhari 56). So even feeding a family becomes worship when it is done for God (﷾). The Qur'an also uses deen for the way of those who rejected its message: "To you be your Way, and to me mine". That is no approval of their worship, which the same surah refuses. It shows that the Qur'an sees a people's way of life and their religion as one thing. Islam has all six marks too: the Qur'an, the daily prayers and rites such as the funeral prayer. It has the Sharia, its sacred law, and a plain teaching on God (﷾) and the next life. So Islam is both, and Muslims do not say this frees it from testing. A Hindu who says "we are a way of life" has not stepped outside the question. Islam says the same of itself, and it still answers for what it teaches.
“The Religion before Allah is Islam (submission to His Will): Nor did the People of the Book dissent therefrom except through envy of each other, after knowledge had come to them. But if any deny the Signs of Allah, Allah is swift in calling to account.”
“Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which hath been invoked the name of other than Allah; that which hath been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a headlong fall, or by being gored to death; that which hath been (partly) eaten by a wild animal; unless ye are able to slaughter it (in due form); that which is sacrificed on stone (altars); (forbidden) also is the division (of meat) by raffling with arrows: that is impiety. This day have those who reject faith given up all hope of your religion: yet fear them not but fear Me. This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. But if any is forced by hunger, with no inclination to transgression, Allah is indeed Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.”
Ibn Umar reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said Islam is built on five: to bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to establish the prayer, to pay zakah, to perform the pilgrimage, and to fast the month of Ramadan.
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said a person is rewarded for whatever he spends seeking Allah's pleasure, even the morsel of food he puts in his wife's mouth.
“Say: O ye that reject Faith! I worship not that which ye worship, Nor will ye worship that which I worship. And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship, Nor will ye worship that which I worship. To you be your Way, and to me mine.”
All of life, offered to whom?
The Gita and the Qur'an both ask for the whole of life, not a part of it. In the Gita, Krishna says whatever you do, eat or give should be done "as offered to me". The Qur'an tells the Prophet (ﷺ) to say that his prayer, sacrifice, life and death are all for Allah (﷾). It adds, "No partner hath He". So the real difference is not between a religion and a way of life. It is who receives the offering. In the Gita it is Krishna, presented there as Lord. In the Qur'an it is the One who "begetteth not, nor is He begotten". The page "Did God become a man as Rama or Krishna?" tests that difference.
“Whatever you do, O son of Kuntî! whatever you eat, whatever sacrifice you make, whatever you give, whatever penance you perform, do that as offered to me.”
“Say: "Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are (all) for Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds: No partner hath He: this am I commanded, and I am the first of those who bow to His will.”
“Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him.”
| Question | The Gita | The Qur'an |
|---|---|---|
| How much of life? | Whatever you do, eat or give. | Prayer, sacrifice, life and death. |
| Offered to whom? | Krishna, the Gita's Lord. | Allah (﷾) alone, with no partner. |
| After death? | The self goes on to new bodies, until it is not born again. | No return. A judgement that misses nothing. |
If it is only culture, culture can stay
Some Hindus mean something simpler. They keep the festivals and family ways, but hold no firm belief. For them Hinduism is culture. Then nothing in that culture decides what is true about God (﷾), so the question is still open. Looking into Islam need not cost them their culture either. A new Muslim keeps his language, his family name and his duty to his parents. The Qur'an says God (﷾) made people "nations and tribes" so that they may know each other. It tells a believer to keep good company with parents who do not share his faith. What changes is worship, which goes to God (﷾) alone, and the few things Islam forbids. The page "If I become Muslim, what happens to my family's customs?" gives the detail. So both answers lead to one place. If it is a religion, its claims can be tested. If it is only culture, it does not stand in the way.
“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).”
“"But if they strive to make thee join in worship with Me things of which thou hast no knowledge, obey them not; yet bear them company in this life with justice (and consideration), and follow the way of those who turn to me (in love): in the end the return of you all is to Me, and I will tell you the truth (and meaning) of all that ye did."”
What Islam puts forward to be tested
Islam does not ask to be accepted because a family has always followed it. The Qur'an faults those who say they will keep to "the ways of our fathers". To people who claim Paradise for themselves alone it says, "Produce your proof if ye are truthful". Then it puts its own claims forward. God (﷾) is one, and "there is none like unto Him". A person has one life, and even "an atom's weight" of good or evil will be seen. The Qur'an tells anyone in doubt to "produce a Sura like thereunto", and says God (﷾) will guard the Message. No one may be forced to believe: "Let there be no compulsion in religion". And no one who turns back to God (﷾) is shut out by his past. The Qur'an says, "Despair not of the Mercy of Allah". The next verse gives the way: "Turn ye to our Lord". So the honest question is not which label fits. It is which way of life rests on what is true. Islam's answer is to worship the one God (﷾) alone, and to meet Him with the one life He has given.
“When it is said to them: "Follow what Allah hath revealed:" They say: "Nay! we shall follow the ways of our fathers." What! even though their fathers Were void of wisdom and guidance?”
“And they say: "None shall enter Paradise unless he be a Jew or a Christian." Those are their (vain) desires. Say: "Produce your proof if ye are truthful."”
“Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him.”
“(In Falsehood will they be) Until, when death comes to one of them, he says: "O my Lord! send me back (to life),- "In order that I may work righteousness in the things I neglected." - "By no means! It is but a word he says."- Before them is a Partition till the Day they are raised up.”
“Then shall anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it! And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it.”
“And if ye are in doubt as to what We have revealed from time to time to Our servant, then produce a Sura like thereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers (If there are any) besides Allah, if your (doubts) are true.”
“We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption).”
“Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things.”
“Say: "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
“"Turn ye to our Lord (in repentance) and bow to His (Will), before the Penalty comes on you: after that ye shall not be helped.”
The replies, answered
Radhakrishnan, The Hindu View of Life, pp. 77-78
Says that dharma is right action. The word comes from the root dhr, to hold, and means that which holds a thing and maintains it in being. Every form of life and every group of men has its dharma, the law of its being.
Cited for
"Religion" is a Western word. You are pushing dharma into a box made for Christianity and Islam, and then saying it fits.
The response
The argument does not need the word. Take "religion" off this page and nothing changes. The Gita still says who made the universe. Manu still promises bliss after death. The Upanishad still teaches rebirth. These are Hindu statements in Hindu books, and no Western visitor put them there. The list of marks is simply what those books talk about. Radhakrishnan himself chose the word "religion" for Hinduism. Deen is no exact match for the English word either, and Islam's claims can still be tested.
Where it lands — Call it dharma if you prefer. The statements about God (﷾) and death stay the same, and so does the need to test them.
Manusmriti 2.11 — chapter 2, verse 11
“Every twice-born man, who, relying on the Institutes of dialectics, treats with contempt those two sources (of the law), must be cast out by the virtuous, as an atheist and a scorner of the Veda.”
Cited for
Manu is only smriti. Many Hindus have never read him, and no one book speaks for all Hindus. You cannot define Hinduism from one law book.
The response
That is fair. Radhakrishnan says Hinduism means one thing to a follower of Shiva and another to a follower of Vishnu. But the case does not rest on Manu. Set him aside, and the Gita still says scripture is the authority and still tells the reader to worship. The Upanishads, which are shruti, still teach about the Lord and about rebirth. Each Hindu tradition has its own books, worship and teaching about God (﷾). Many forms of a religion do not add up to no religion. And Manu is no minor voice: a later law book gives him first rank.
Where it lands — The details differ from one Hindu tradition to another. The marks of a religion appear in each of them.
Radhakrishnan, The Hindu View of Life, p. 17
Says the Vedas record the spiritual experiences of perfected souls, and are "not so much dogmatic dicta as transcripts from life". They hold authority because they express the experience of experts in religion, and their truths can be experienced again. He adds that these experiences are "of a varied character", so the records are many-sided.
Cited for
The Vedas are records of experience, not dogma. Truth in Hinduism is lived, and anyone can experience it again. Nothing here needs to be believed.
The response
An experience of reality is still a claim about reality. Radhakrishnan himself says these experiences are "of a varied character". Hindu teachers have reached opposite results on the most basic point. Shankara taught that "unity is the one true existence", so a person's true self is Brahman. Madhva's school held the opposite. A survey of the Hindu schools reports its verdict on those who thirst to be one with the Supreme Lord. They must enter "the hell of blind darkness". Both cannot be right. So experience cannot be the final test, because it needs a test itself. The page "Is the soul the same as God?" sets out this dispute.
Where it lands — When experiences disagree, they cannot all be true. Saying "it is lived" does not remove the question of which is right.
Rig Veda 1.164.46 — Mandala 1, Hymn 164, verse 46
“They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutmân. To what is One, sages give many a title: they call it Agni, Yama, Mâtariṣvan.”
Cited for
"To what is One, sages give many a title." Truth is one, so these differences of doctrine do not matter.
The response
The verse speaks of titles. It names Indra, Mitra, Varuna and Agni, and says they are titles of what is One. Islam agrees that one God (﷾) can have many names. But a title is not a doctrine. One soul cannot both be reborn and never be reborn. God (﷾) cannot both exist and not exist. Many names for one reality is a different thing from opposite statements about it.
Where it lands — Many names can be true together. Opposite statements cannot.
Manusmriti 4.138 — chapter 4, verse 138
“Let him say what is true, let him say what is pleasing, let him utter no disagreeable truth, and let him utter no agreeable falsehood; that is the eternal law.”
Cited for
Ours is Sanatana Dharma, the eternal law. It has no founder and no beginning. A religion is started by one man at a known date, so this is something else.
The response
Being old, or having no known founder, does not make a teaching true or false. The Qur'an faults those who keep to a way only because their fathers did. And "eternal" is itself a statement of fact, so it has to be tested like any other. Islam makes the same kind of claim. It does not present itself as a religion that began with Muhammad (ﷺ). The Qur'an says: "The same religion has He established for you as that which He enjoined on Noah". The verse goes on to name Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Another verse calls this religion "the pattern on which He has made mankind". So each side says its way is eternal, and both cannot be right where they differ. The page "Did God send prophets to India?" sets the two claims side by side.
Where it lands — "Eternal" is a claim to be tested. It is not a reason to skip the test.
Qur'an 2:256 — Surat al-Baqara (The Cow), verse 256
“Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things.”
Cited for
Hinduism lets everyone be. Islam has a creed and says others are wrong. A way of life that leaves people free is better than a religion that demands belief.
The response
How people are treated and whether a claim is true are two separate things. The Qur'an says "Let there be no compulsion in religion". It allows kindness and justice to those who do not fight the believers. A Muslim can think a claim is false and still be a good friend to the one who holds it. Saying that some views are wrong is not unique to Islam. In the Gita, Krishna says those who worship other gods do not know him truly, "therefore do they fall". Every serious teaching says something is true, and that means its opposite is not.
Where it lands — Kindness is owed to people. It does not make every claim true, so the claims still have to be tested.
Perspectives
A way of life, not a religion
Hinduism is dharma, a way of living. It has no single founder and no one creed. It asks for right conduct, not for agreement on doctrine, and it is too wide for the word "religion".
Modern Hindu teachers; S. Radhakrishnan, The Hindu View of Life (1927)
Radhakrishnan says Hinduism is more a way of life than a form of thought, and that it leaves thought free.
Rebuttal
He wrote "more", not "instead of". In the same lectures he says "Hinduism is the religion not only of the Vedas but of the Epics and the Puranas". So his line does not support "not a religion".
The theist and the atheist may both be Hindus, so being Hindu needs no belief at all.
Rebuttal
Manu's law book casts out the man who scorns the Veda, so the old books do draw a line of belief. And who may belong says nothing about what is true. God (﷾) exists or He does not, and the reader still has to find out.
Dharma is wider than the English word "religion". It covers food, family, work and duty.
Rebuttal
Wider means it holds religion inside it, not that religion is absent. Manu names the Veda as the first source of dharma. Deen is just as wide, and Islam is still a religion.
Hinduism has no single founder and no one creed. It grew over time.
Rebuttal
A founder or a creed is not what makes a statement true or false. The historian who says it has no one creed also says nearly all Hindus hold rebirth. That is a claim about what follows death, and it can be tested.
A religion received through revelation
Hinduism is a religion. Hindus received it through the Vedas, which have no beginning and no end. The soul is eternal, and it passes from body to body by its deeds.
Swami Vivekananda, Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 1893
The Hindus have received their religion through their revelation, the Vedas.
Rebuttal
This gives up the slogan, and it makes a claim that can be tested. The hymns themselves say their poets fashioned them. The page on who wrote the Vedas goes through the evidence.
Death is only a change from one body to another, and the present is set by past deeds.
Rebuttal
This is a statement of fact about every person, so it can be wrong. The Qur'an teaches the opposite: no return to this world, then a judgement that misses nothing.
Hindu by culture, not by belief
Many people call themselves Hindu because of family, festivals and food. They hold no firm view on the gods or on rebirth. For them Hinduism is who they are, not what they believe.
A person can belong through the Hindu system of culture and life, whatever he believes.
Rebuttal
Then Hinduism gives this person no answer about God (﷾) or death, and the questions remain. Culture need not stand in the way, since language, family and kindness to parents stay for a Muslim.
The Islamic perspective
In the Qur'an, religion and way of life are one thing, not two. Islam is both. What matters is whether a way of life is true. Islam teaches one God (﷾), one life and one judgement, and it puts its Book forward to be tested.
The Hindu texts have what a religion has: scripture, worship, rites, law, and teachings on God (﷾) and death.
Hindu teachers themselves call Hinduism a religion.
The Qur'an's word deen covers worship, food and all of life, and it calls this religion.
Each person has one life, and then a judgement in which nothing is missed.
The Qur'an asks for proof, offers its own challenge, and forces no one.