Sikhism

===Teachings===
Sikhism is a [[Monotheism|monotheistic]] and [[Panentheism|panentheistic]] religion: There exists only one God, and that God is simultaneously within and all-encompassing. That God is symbolized as ''[[Ik Onkar]]'' in the [[Gurmukhi]] script of [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Rose |first=Tudor|date=2015|title=Agree to Differ|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Mg91CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA97 |publisher=[[UNESCO]] |page=97 |isbn=978-92-3-100090-4}}</ref><ref>"[http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/sikhism/ataglance/glance.shtml Sikhism at a glance |Religions: Sikhism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902132011/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/sikhism/ataglance/glance.shtml |date=2 September 2017 }}." BBC (2014).</ref> In Sikhism, the overall concept of God is ''[[Waheguru]]'' {{gloss|mode=def|wondrous Teacher}}; the ''Waheguru'' is considered to be ''[[nirankar]]'' ('shapeless'), ''akal'' ('[[Temporality|timeless]]'), ''karta purakh'' ('[[Creator deity|the creator]]'), and ''agam agochar'' ('[[Divine incomprehensibility|incomprehensible]] and invisible').<ref>{{cite web |title=There is One God |url=https://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Spiritual/2018-09-01/There-is-One-God/409124 |last1=The Hans India |date=1 September 2018 |work=[[The Hans India]] |access-date=10 July 2019 |archive-date=10 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710164237/https://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Spiritual/2018-09-01/There-is-One-God/409124 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In a literal sense, God has no [[Gender of God in Sikhism|gender]] in Sikhism, but, metaphorically, God is presented as masculine and God's power as feminine. For example, God is repeatedly referred to by the name ''akaal purkh'' ('beyond time and space') and ''[[nirankar]]'' ('without form') by the tenth guru, Gobind Singh Ji; he also refers to God as his father, and God's creative power as his mother. Similarly, another example is that the Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib says that all humans are soul-brides who long to unite with their husband Lord.<ref>{{cite book |last=Guru Nanak Dev Ji |author-link=Guru Nanak |url=http://www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?Action=Page&Param=17&english=t&id=719#l719 |title=Gurū Granth Sāhib |page=17 |quote=If you long for your Husband Lord, O soul-bride, you must know that He is not met by falsehood. |access-date=8 June 2021 |archive-date=3 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503145503/http://www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?Action=Page&Param=17&english=t&id=719#l719 |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition, the gurus also wrote in the Guru Granth Sahib that there are many worlds on which the transcendental God has created life.<ref>{{cite book |last=Guru Nanak Dev Ji |author-link=Guru Nanak |url=http://www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?Action=Page&Param=15&punjabi=t&id=632#l632 |title=Gurū Granth Sāhib |page=15 |quote=You are the One True Lord and Master of all the other beings, of so many worlds. |access-date=15 June 2006 |archive-date=29 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929092220/http://www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?Action=Page&Param=15&punjabi=t&id=632#l632 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Sikh scripture begins with God as ''[[Ik Onkar]]'' ({{Lang-pa|ੴ|label=none}}), the 'formless one',<ref name="singhaikonkar">{{cite book |last=Singha |first=H. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqIbJz7vMn0C |title=The Encyclopedia of Sikhism |publisher=Hemkunt |date=2000 |isbn=978-81-7010-301-1 |pages=20–21, 103 |access-date=3 October 2017 |archive-date=11 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230811005235/https://books.google.com/books?id=gqIbJz7vMn0C |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":0">Singh, Pashaura; Fenech, Louis E. (2014). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=8I0NAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA234 The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies]''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-969930-8}}.</ref>{{Rp|227}} understood in the Sikh tradition as monotheistic unity of God.<ref>{{cite book |title=Merriam-Webster's encyclopedia of world religions |last=Doniger |first=Wendy |date=1999 |publisher=Merriam-Webster |page=500 |url= https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877790440 |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-87779-044-0}}</ref> ''Ik onkar'' (sometimes capitalized) is more loosely rendered 'the one supreme reality', 'the one creator', 'the all-pervading [[Para Brahman|spirit]]', and other ways of expressing a diffused but unified and singular sense of God and creation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mayled |first=John |title=Sikhism |publisher=Heinemann |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-435-33627-1 |page=16 |url= https://archive.org/details/sikhism0000mayl_l1v5/page/16 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

The traditional ''[[Mul Mantar]]'' goes from ''ik onkar'' until ''Nanak hosee bhee sach.'' The opening line of the ''Guru Granth Sahib'' and each subsequent ''[[raga]]'', mentions ''ik onkar'':<ref name="pashauramulmantar2">{{cite book |last=Singh |first=Pashaura |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aiwpDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT101 |title=The Guru Granth Sahib: Canon, Meaning and Authority |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|date=2003 |isbn=978-0-19-908773-0|pages=101–02}}</ref>

{{blockquote
|text=
{{fs interlinear|lang=pa
|{ੴ} ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ॥
|{ikk ōankār} sat<small>(i)</small> nām<small>(u)</small> karatā purakh<small>(u)</small> nirabha'u niravair<small>(u)</small> akāl<small>(a)</small> mūrat<small>(i)</small> ajūnī saibhan gur<small>(a)</small> prasād<small>(i)</small>
|"There is one supreme being, the eternal reality, the creator, without fear and devoid of enmity, immortal, never incarnated, self-existent, known by grace through the true Guru."}}
|author=''[[Guru Granth Sahib]]'' (17th c.), p. 1}}