Q.(a) Explain the main beliefs and teachings of Guru Nanak Dev.

Comparative Religious Ethics: A First Look

Imagine you're sitting with friends from different backgrounds. One says, "It's wrong to lie, always." Another says, "Sometimes a lie saves a life — that makes it right." A third says, "It depends on your intention." You realise none of them is being careless. Each is drawing from a deeper moral framework — a way of deciding what is good and why.

That's where comparative religious ethics begins. It is the study of how different religious traditions answer the same fundamental questions: What should I do? What kind of person should I be? Why?

What it actually means

Comparative religious ethics is not about ranking religions as "better" or "worse" morally. It is about understanding how each tradition builds its moral reasoning — its sources of authority, its methods of judgment, and its vision of a good life.

The NCERT textbook (Class 11, Understanding Society, and related humanities texts) treats this as part of understanding how societies create and sustain moral order. Different religions may agree on a rule (e.g., "do not steal") but arrive at it through completely different paths — one through divine command, another through karma and rebirth, another through the pursuit of inner peace.

Why it matters for a commerce/humanities student

You might think ethics is only for philosophers or priests. But consider:

• Business ethics often draws on religious ideas of fairness, honesty, and stewardship.
• Public policy debates — on charity, justice, or environmental responsibility — are shaped by religious moral frameworks.
• Understanding your own values becomes sharper when you see how others reason about right and wrong.

Comparative religious ethics gives you a toolkit: you learn to spot why someone holds a moral position, not just what they hold. That is useful whether you are negotiating a deal, writing a policy brief, or simply trying to understand a neighbour.

How it works in practice

When you study a topic like "truthfulness" across traditions, you might find:

• Hindu ethics (dharma) — truth is tied to cosmic order; speaking truth maintains harmony, but there are exceptions in times of crisis (apad-dharma).
• Buddhist ethics — truthfulness is a precept, but the key is intention (cetana); a lie told with good intent may be treated differently.
• Christian ethics — truth is rooted in God's nature; lying is a sin, but some traditions allow for "mental reservation" in extreme situations.
• Islamic ethics — truthfulness (sidq) is a sign of faith; lying is forbidden except in specific cases like reconciling people or in war. …

Sufi Legal Distinctions

Imagine you are in a city where two different courts exist. One court follows a strict written code — every case is decided exactly by the book, with no room for personal opinion. The other court listens to the same code but also considers the judge's deep understanding of justice, the circumstances of each person, and the spirit behind the law. Both courts are legitimate, but they arrive at different verdicts for the same situation.

This is the core idea behind Sufi legal distinctions in Islamic jurisprudence.

The Two Pillars: Shariat and Tariqat

In classical Islamic thought, law is not a single, flat system. Scholars distinguish between two complementary dimensions:

• Shariat — the external, codified law derived from the Quran, Hadith, consensus (ijma), and analogical reasoning (qiyas). This is the formal legal framework that governs actions, rituals, contracts, and punishments. It is objective, public, and binding on all Muslims.

• Tariqat — the inner, spiritual path. This is not a separate set of rules but a deeper way of understanding and applying the Shariat. A Sufi (a practitioner of Tasawwuf, or Islamic mysticism) believes that mere external compliance is not enough. The law must be internalised, felt, and lived with sincerity of intention (niyyah).

Why This Distinction Matters

For a commerce or humanities student, think of it like this: a company can follow every rule in the tax code (Shariat) but still act unethically by exploiting loopholes. A Sufi would say that true obedience requires not just following the letter of the law but also purifying one's heart from greed, arrogance, and selfishness (Tariqat).

This distinction led to several practical differences in how Sufi scholars approached legal questions:

• Intention over form: Two people perform the same prayer. One is distracted, the other fully present. For a Sufi jurist, the second person's prayer has greater spiritual weight, even though both are legally valid.

• Flexibility in interpretation: Sufi scholars often favoured interpretations that emphasised mercy, compassion, and the spirit of the law, especially in matters of personal conduct, charity, and dealings with non-Muslims.

• Emphasis on inner states: Legal rulings about anger, envy, or pride were taken seriously not just as moral advice but as part of the path to God. A person who outwardly follows the law but harbours hatred is, in Sufi terms, still far from true submission.

The NCERT Perspective

Your NCERT textbook (Class 12 History, Chapter 6: Bhakti-Sufi Traditions) explains that Sufis did not create a separate legal system. Instead, they operated within the framework of the four Sunni schools of law (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi‘i, Hanbali). What they added was a spiritual dimension to legal practice.

A Concrete Example …