Max Arthur Macauliffe

This eminent scholar has written six books on Sikh history. He addresses the Western Six books on Sikh history. He addresses the Western Society and claims to bring Sikh religion from the East which is simple to understand. There is no place to pretence and hypocritical in this religion…..
Flesh, Alcohol Tobacco and other drugs are prohibited in it…. It nor only teachers kindness, love, honesty but also encourages its followers to accept all human beings as one thus diminishing all racial differences…. Teachings of Buddha and other religious were written when they were no more in this world. But teachings of Sikh Guru’s is written and edited by themselves, thus they are found in their original forms.
Battles fought by Sikh Gurus were not against any communalism and orthodoxy but they fought for the betterment of society, to protect people from tyranny and for the upliftment of their souls.

In his book, "The Sikh Religion," Macauliffe writes:

"Unlike the scriptures of other creeds, they do not contain love stories or accounts of wars waged for selfish considerations. They contain sublime truths, the study of which cannot but elevate the reader spiritually, morally, and socially. There is not the least tinge of sectarianism in them. They teach the highest and purest principle that serve to bind man to man and inspire the believer with an ambition to serve his fellow men, to sacrifice all and die for their sake."

Macauliffe deems it necessary to draw the reader's attention to another significant feature of Sikhism which distinguishes it and separates it from other philosophical and religious systems of thought:

"The Sikh religion differs as regards the authenticity of its dogmas from most other great theological systems. Many of the great teachers the world has known, have not left a line of their own composition, and we only know what they taught through tradition or second-hand information. If Pythagoras wrote any of tenets, his writings have not descended to us. We know the teachings of Socrates only through the writings of Plato and Xenophon. Buddha has left no written memorials of his teaching. Kungfu-tze, known to Europeans as Confucious, left no documents in which he detailed the principles of his moral and social systems. The Founder of Christianity did not reduce his doctrines to writing, and for them we are obliged to trust to the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark. Luke, and John.

The Arabian Prophet did not himself reduce to writing the chapters of the Quran. They were written or compiled by his adherents and followers. But the compositions of the Sikh Gurus are preserved and we know first hand what they taught. They employed the vehicle of verse, which is generally unalterable by copyist, and we even become in time familiar with their different styles. No spurious compositions or extraneous dogmas, can therefore be represented as theirs.

The author of the 'Vie de Jesus' was a great admirer of Jesus Christ. Greatly impressed as he was of the spiritual message delivered by Christ and those of the Semitic thinkers that preceded him, he posed the question: "Whether great originality will again arise or the world be content to follow the paths opened by the daring creators of the ancient ages?" Bearing Sikhism in mind, Macauliffe answers the above question in the following words:

Now there is here a religion totally unaffected by Semite or Christian influences. Based on the concept of the unity of God, it rejected Hindu formalities and adopted an independent ethical system, ritual, and standards, which were totally opposed to the theological beliefs of Guru Nanak’s age and country. As we shall see hereafter, it would be difficult to point to a religion of greater originality or a more comprehensive ethical system."

Macauliffe continues:

"Guru Nanak was not a priest either by birth or education, but a man who soared to the loftiest heights of divine emotionalism, and exalted his mental vision to an ethical ideal beyond the concept of Hinduism or Mohammadanism.

It (Sikhism) prohibits idolatry, hypocrisy, caste exclusiveness, con-cremation (Satti) of widows, the immurement (confinement) of women (like Muslims), the use of wine and other intoxicants, tobacco smoking, infanticide, slander, pilgrimage to the sacred rivers and tanks of the Hindus. It inculcates loyalty, justice, impartiality, truth, honesty and all the moral and domestic virtues to holiest citizens of any country. "