Sikhism

A religion that is founded on the teachings of Nanak and nine successive gurus in 15th century Northern India. Sikhism is the 5th-largest organised religion in the world.

A key distinctive feature of Sikhism is a non-anthropomorphic concept of God, to the extent that one can interpret God as the Universe itself. The principal belief of Sikhism is faith in Vahiguru, the Universal God. Sikhism advocates the pursuit of salvation through disciplined, personal meditation on the name and message of God.

The followers of Sikhism are ordained to follow the teachings of the ten Sikh gurus, or enlightened leaders, as well as the holy scripture entitled the Guru Granth Sahib, which includes selected works of many devotees from diverse socio-economic and religious backgrounds. The text was decreed by Gobind Singh, the tenth guru, as the final guru of the Khalsa Panth.

Although religious scholars generally view Sikhism as a blend of Hinduism and Islam, most Sikhs believe that their religion is unique without precursors. Sikhs believe in a single deity, and reject class differences. There are about 23 million Sikhs in the world; most are concentrated in the Punjab region in northwest India.