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| Sunday, 9 October 2005 |
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Al-Quran makes allusion to
the Buddha :
Strong similarities between Buddhism and Islam by A. F. Dawood The Holy Quran, which was revealed to prophet Mohamed more than 1400 years ago, makes allusion to the Buddha, and there are several similarities in Buddhism and Islam. A prince of Sakya clan who spent 13 years of luxurious life, Siddharta Gautama relinquished his worldly life at the age of 29 years and meditated in the forest for six years in search of the truth for the cause of suffering and attained Enlightenment - the Buddhahood. The Gautama Buddha preached the noble doctrine of Buddhism more than 2500 years ago, and during the course of his preaching. He had declared to his chief disciple Ananda that he was neither the first Buddha nor the last, but that maitriya Buddha would appear in the world after him to preach the same doctrine. Prophet Mohamed preached the doctrine of Islam 1100 years after Buddhism had flourished, and his preaching bears close affinity to the noble doctrine of the Buddha. Let me dwell at length how Al-Quran makes indirect allusion to the Buddha in Surah XCV: 1, 2 & 3. (Tin or Fig) and footnote Al-Quran 6198. Bodhi tree and fig tree "By the Fig and the Olive and Mount Sinai and the City of Security, we have indeed created man in the best of mould. Then we do abase him (to be) the lowest of low". The Muslim theologians attribute meanings to the verses as follows: The Olive here bears reference to the Mount of Olives just outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem, thus symbolising Christianity; Mount Sinai was the mountain in which the law was given to Moses, symbolising Judaism. The City of Security refers to Mecca. So Mount Of Olives refer to Christianity and Christ: Mount Sinai for Judaism and Moses; Mecca for Islam and Mohamed. But what about the Fig? It is the belief of the Islamic theologians that since the last three symbols refer to prophets and religions, the symbol Fig should also refer to a prophet and a religion. Buddhism being the most populace living religion of the world during the advent of prophet Mohamed and the Bodhi tree being the one under which Siddharta Gautama received Enlightenment, Quaranic commentators legitimately connect the Bodhi tree to the Fig tree, and hence infer that the symbol Fig refers to the Buddha and Buddhism. Let me adduce another Quranic injunction regarding the Buddha, whose story is stated at length in the 18th Chapter of the Holy Quran. Surah Kaaf XVIII:66-74;75-82 reflect that the Buddha enjoys an esteemed position in Islam that prophet Moses, who was given the law in Mount Sinai, was commanded to undertake a journey far off to learn from Al-Khadir as evidenced in the Holy Quran. And we called him from the right side of Mount Sinai, And made him draw near to US for mystic (converse). (Surah Maryam XIX: 52 footnote 2504) the Buddha's austere teaching and magnetic personality led Al-Shahristan, a renowned Muslim historian of religions of the 12th century, to conclude that the only person to be indentified as the Buddha in Islamic tradition is Al-Khadir, though, of course, some Islamic commentators had different opinions to the effect that the Buddha may be a prophet, an angel or saint. During the 14th century Rasheeduddin Fadhullah, in his book, portrayed the noble features of the Buddha and in one chapter reflected an account on the life and times of the Buddha. He is considered a prophet with a book called Abi-Dharma containing the quintessence of truth. It is noteworthy to state here that some of the Islamic commentators of the Holy Quran have identified the Buddha with the prophet Dhul-Kifl,, assuming that Kifl is the Arabic synonym of Kapilavastu. Unfortunately, most of the contemporary. Muslims are not aware of his position and hence have formed a misconception about the Buddha. A peep into historical and scientific fact is relevant to this discussion. Geologists believe that the Earth has been existing for about 200 crores of years (1 crore equals 10 million), which means the age of the Earth is 2000 million years. Soviet archaeologists have discovered the fossil remains of a left calf bone of a pre-historic man dating back to 200 to 250 thousand years, in a large cave on the Chusanaya River, while Soviet scientists who examined the stone age tools found in the bank of Ulanka river in the district of Soviet Union, have concluded that the earliest man was an Asiano who lived in Asia 690,000 years ago (Source: Wisdom Journal Nos 1,9,14) Historical facts reveal that humans have been existing for about 600,000 to 1,000,000 years (Source: The Vedanta Kesari Journal-March 1951), though life has been existing for about 500 to 800 million years on the surface of the Earth which is 2000 million years old. It is believed those humans were pre-historic, lived without religion and language, and so communicated in sign language. Over the years, man has developed resulting in the birth of language and civilisation, and this revolution in man's sphere of activities brought forth the propagation of so many religions. Therefore, it is not fallacious to adumbrate that the advent of language and literacy saw the birth of many religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, in different period of time. History reveals that the pre-historic men of 600,000 years ago had some form of worship to their imaginary super power, the supposed god that fulfilled their basic necessity-hunger. So these ancient primitive people worshipped stone, fire, sun, moon, water, tree etc, whatever, they thought, that sustained their life's requirement. So a pantheon of gods-moon god, sun god, fire god etc, took root and began to flourish in the mind of prehistoric men. Personal conviction Religion is one's personal conviction. There have been many religions in the world after the dawn of a civilized era, and Al-Quran makes provision for its adherents to respect and love the adherents of other religions in the world. This is what the Holy Quran says: And I will not worship that which ye have been want to worship, Nor will ye worship that which I worship. To you be your way, and to me mine. To be continued |
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