What political upheaval marked Guru Nanak's lifetime?

Bābur invaded northern India and defeated the Lodī sultan at Panipat in 1526. Nanak witnessed the sack of Saidpur and described its horror in his hymns.

What are the Bābarvāṇī hymns?

The Bābarvāṇī are Guru Nanak's compositions about Bābur's invasion. Cruelty against ordinary people is condemned there, and the rulers are blamed for failing them.

Why is it inaccurate to speak of Mughal persecution of Sikhs in Nanak's lifetime?

Nanak died in 1539, and the Sikh community was then still very small. Systematic persecution began with the execution of Guru Arjan under Jahāngīr in 1606.

What is Sufism, and how does it relate to Guru Nanak's context?

Sufism is the mystical strand of Islam, stressing love of God and inward purification. Sufi teachers were active across the Punjab and shared vocabulary with Nanak's hymns.

Eduqas A-Level Religious Studies A120QS

Christianity: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsChristianity

Topic overview The birth narratives and the doctrine of the incarnation The resurrection, the resurrected body and the afterlife The Bible as a guide to daily living The biblical canon and theories of inspiration The kerygmata in Acts Crossan and Wright on the historical Jesus

Christianity: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeChristianity

Topic overview God as father and mother, and the suffering of God The Trinity and the filioque controversy Theories of the Atonement Justification by faith and works The community of believers and the role of the Church Key moral principles in Christianity

Christianity: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtChristianity

Topic overview Christian attitudes towards wealth Christian migration and reverse mission in the UK Feminist theology and the ordination of women Secularisation and Christianity in the UK Dawkins, McGrath and the challenge from science Exclusivism, inclusivism and religious pluralism

Christianity: Practices That Shape Religious IdentityChristianity

Topic overview Infant baptism and believer's baptism Eucharistic theology and practice Christmas and Easter in the Eastern and Western churches The Ecumenical Movement and the World Council of Churches The Charismatic Movement Liberation theology in South America

Islam: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsIslam

Topic overview Jahiliyya and the Night of Power The Hijrah and Muhammad's leadership in Madinah The Qur'an as the final revelation Sunna, hadith, qiyas and ijma Shari'a, ijtihad and taqlid Greater and lesser jihad

Islam: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeIslam

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Islam: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtIslam

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Islam: Practices That Shape Religious IdentityIslam

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Judaism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsJudaism

Topic overview Abraham and the covenant of circumcision Moses and the covenant of law at Sinai The Torah: authority, study and treatment The Talmud, the Mishnah and the Gemara Midrash, halakhah and aggadah Rashi and Maimonides on scripture

Judaism: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeJudaism

Topic overview The nature and attributes of God Humanity, nefesh and pikuach nefesh The Shema and the purpose of life The Messiah, judgement and olam ha-ba Tefillah, the Amidah and tzedakah The 613 mitzvot and the Ten Sayings

Judaism: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtJudaism

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Judaism: Practices That Shape Religious IdentityJudaism

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Buddhism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsBuddhism

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Buddhism: Practices That Shape Religious IdentityBuddhism

Topic overview Going for refuge in the Buddha, dhamma and sangha Samatha, vipassanā, mettā bhāvanā and zazen Dāna and puñña: giving and merit Tibetan practice: mudrā, maṇḍala and mantra The contemporary Mindfulness Movement Socially Engaged Buddhism

Hinduism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsHinduism

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Hinduism: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeHinduism

Topic overview Brahman and atman: monism, dualism and the Vedanta schools The Trimurti, cyclical time, Vaishnavism and Shaivism Karma, samsara and the goal of moksha Varnashramadharma: the four varnas and four ashramas The status of the Dalits: Gandhi, Ambedkar and after Ahimsa from Jain roots to Gandhi's satyagraha

Hinduism: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtHinduism

Topic overview ISKCON, Prabhupada and Krishna consciousness Hinduism, science and the challenge of secularisation The four purusharthas, wealth and poverty Diversity, pluralism and Hindu attitudes to other faiths Hindu identity and migration to Britain Changing roles of men and women in Hinduism

Hinduism: Practices That Shape Religious IdentityHinduism

Topic overview Puja in the home and in the mandir Holi: Holika, Prahlada and the play of Krishna Durga Puja, Navaratri and the Goddess The bhakti movement and pilgrimage Samkhya, Patanjali's yoga and Advaita Vedanta Hindu bioethics: infertility and assisted reproduction

Sikhism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsSikhism

Topic overview Guru Nanak's background and the influences on his teaching Guru Nanak's revelation, teachings and the community at Kartarpur Guru Gobind Singh and the founding of the Khalsa The Guru Granth Sahib as living Guru The Mul Mantar and the Japji Sahib Guru Arjan and the empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Sikhism: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeSikhism

Topic overview The Sikh concept of God: Ik Onkar, nirguna and saguna The soul, the five khands and union with Vahiguru Karma, rebirth, grace and mukti Seva and Sarbat da bhala Kirat Karo, Naam Japo and Vand Chhako Sant Sipahi and Dharam Yudh

Sikhism: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtSikhism

Topic overview Khalistan, persecution and the politics of the Punjab Equality of men and women in Sikhism Sikh attitudes to other faiths and interfaith dialogue Sikhism, science and secularisation Origins and development of the Sikh community in Britain Miri and piri, the kirpan and defending the oppressed

Sikhism: Practices That Shape Religious IdentitySikhism

Topic overview The gurdwara, langar and Sikh worship Diwali and Bandi Chhor Divas Vaisakhi and the birth of the Khalsa The Rahit Maryada and the rahit-namas Naam Japo, the names of God and the stages of liberation Sikh bioethics: infertility and assisted reproduction

Arguments for the Existence of God: Inductive

Topic overview Inductive proofs and Aquinas's first three ways The Kalam cosmological argument and William Lane Craig Design arguments: Aquinas, Paley and Tennant Hume's challenges and scientific alternatives

Arguments for the Existence of God: Deductive

Topic overview Deductive proofs and Anselm's greatest possible being Necessary existence in Anselm and Norman Malcolm Descartes's supremely perfect being Gaunilo, Kant and challenges to the ontological argument

The Problem of Evil and Suffering

Topic overview Moral and natural evil and the classical problem Mackie's inconsistent triad and the evidential problem Augustine's theodicy: privation, the fall and the Cross Hick's soul-making theodicy and its critics

Religious Belief as a Product of the Human Mind

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Religious Experience

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Religious Language

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Ethical Thought

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Teleological Ethics

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Determinism

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Free Will

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Sikhism: Religious Figures and Sacred Texts

Guru Nanak's background and the influences on his teaching

3 things to know
Component 1

Overview

Guru Nanak's family and the upheaval of Bābur's invasions in the Bābarvāṇī hymns, and how far the sant tradition, Sufism and Islamic monotheism shaped a teaching that was more than a blend.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

When and where was Guru Nanak born, into what family, and what upheaval marked his lifetime?

Numbers

When and where was Guru Nanak born?

Key term

What was Guru Nanak's family background?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
When and where was Guru Nanak born?
Model answer
Guru Nanak was born in 1469 at Talwaṇḍī in the Punjab. The town is now called Nankana Sahib and lies in Pakistan.
2
What was Guru Nanak's family background?
Model answer
Nanak was born into a Hindu Khatri family, and his father Kālū was a village accountant. Employment as a storekeeper at Sultanpur followed his early education.
3
What political upheaval marked Guru Nanak's lifetime?
Model answer
Bābur invaded northern India and defeated the Lodī sultan at Panipat in 1526. Nanak witnessed the sack of Saidpur and described its horror in his hymns.
4
What are the Bābarvāṇī hymns?
Model answer
The Bābarvāṇī are Guru Nanak's compositions about Bābur's invasion. Cruelty against ordinary people is condemned there, and the rulers are blamed for failing them.
5
Why is it inaccurate to speak of Mughal persecution of Sikhs in Nanak's lifetime?
Model answer
Nanak died in 1539, and the Sikh community was then still very small. Systematic persecution began with the execution of Guru Arjan under Jahāngīr in 1606.
6
What is Sufism, and how does it relate to Guru Nanak's context?
Model answer
Sufism is the mystical strand of Islam, stressing love of God and inward purification. Sufi teachers were active across the Punjab and shared vocabulary with Nanak's hymns.

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