Sikhism

I have trouble determining exactly what the Sikh faith and its followers believe. To me, it looks like the religion is a hybrid of Hindu and Islam given that the faith is considered a monotheistic religion and, yet, the faith also offers doctrine related to a belief in reincarnation and the wisdom of gurus. Interesting to me, also, is the fact that Sikhs have completely turned away from the concepts of idol worship and blatant mysticism. Doctrine related to these matters appears to be greatly influenced by Islam because idol worship and mysticism are commonplace in Hindu.

Further, I have not been able to determine the origin of the Sikh tradition of followers not cutting their hair at air during an entire lifetime. Looking deeper into this practice, I cannot see where this originates from any mainstream religion including Islam and Hindu. What a seek hopes to accomplish or symbolism by not cutting his or her hair is foreign to me, but I think this is largely due to my western upbringing in a Judeo-Christian culture.

One concept of Sikhism that I can relate to is the traditional Punjab celebration in which a Sikh child is given his or her name. I most closely relate this to a Christian christening in which a child is given his or her Christian name. While a child does not go without a name until the celebration, the child's "official" name under either faith is given at the time of the celebration. Tradition makes sense to me, so I don't have difficulty thinking about this practice abstractly.

Finally, Sikh men are known for wearing turbans. From what I have read about Sikhism, I think this practice is largely traditional from a more conservative time when the religion was founded.