ith no single founder or religious authority. Hinduism
has many scriptures; the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad-Gita
are among some of the most important. Hindus may worship one or many
deities, usually with prayer rituals within their own home. The most
common figures of devotion are the gods Vishnu, Shiva, and a mother
goddess, Devi. Most Hindus believe the soul, or atman, is eternal, and
goes through a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (samsara) determined
by one's positive or negative karma, or the consequences of one's
actions. The goal of religious life is to learn to act so as to finally
achieve liberation (moksha) of one's soul, escaping the rebirth cycle.

Islam - The third of the monotheistic Abrahamic faiths, Islam
originated with the teachings of Muhammad in the 7th century. Muslims
believe Muhammad is the final of all religious prophets (beginning with
Abraham) and that the Qu'ran, which is the Islamic scripture, was
revealed to him by God. Islam derives from the word submission, and
obedience to God is a primary theme in this religion. In order to live
an Islamic life, believers must follow the five pillars, or tenets, of
Islam, which are the testimony of faith (shahada), daily prayer
(salah), giving alms (zakah), fasting during Ramadan (sawm), and the
pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj).

Basic Groupings

The two primary branches of Islam are Sunni and Shia, which split
from each other over a religio-political leadership dispute about the
rightful successor to Muhammad. The Shia believe Muhammad's cousin and
son-in-law, Ali, was the only divinely ordained Imam (religious
leader), while the Sunni maintain the first three caliphs after
Muhammad were also legitimate authorities. In modern Islam, Sunnis and
Shia continue to have different views of acceptable schools of Islamic
jurisprudence, and who is a proper Islamic religious authority. Islam
also has an active mystical branch, Sufism, with various Sunni and Shia
subsets.

Sunni Islam accounts for over 75% of the world's Muslim population.
It recognizes the Abu Bakr as the first caliph after Muhammad. Sunni
has four schools of Islamic doctrine and law - Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i,
and Hanbali - which uniquely interpret the Hadith, or recorded oral
traditions of Muhammad. A Sunni Muslim may elect to follow any one of
these schools, as all are considered equally valid.

Shia Islam represents 10-20% of Muslims worldwide, and its
distinguishing f