Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Between
Islam and Buddhism
Contents
Foreword by H. H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama vii
Introduction by H. R. H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad ix
Preface by Professor Mohammad Hashim Kamali xvii
Acknowledgements xxii
Common Ground Between Islam and Buddhism
Part One — Setting the Scene 1
Beyond the Letter to the Spirit 1
A Glance at History 7
Qur’ānic Premises of Dialogue 12
The Buddha as Messenger 14
Revelation from on High or Within? 19
The Dalai Lama and the Dynamics of Dialogue 24
Part Two — Oneness: The Highest Common Denominator 29
Conceiving of the One 29
The Unborn 30
Buddhist Dialectics 33
Shūnya and Shahāda 40
Light of Transcendence 42
Al-Samad and Dharma 43
God’s Face 46
Fanā’ and Non-duality 49
Baqā’ of the ‘Enlightened Ones’ 51
Worship of the One 58
Buddha in the Light of Dharma 60
Remembrance of God 64
Tariki and Tawakkul 67
Key to Salvation 69
Images of the Buddha, Blessings upon the Prophet 73
Part Three — Ethics of Detachment and Compassion 79
Detachment: Anicca and Zuhd 79
Suffering 80
Worldliness 82
Subtle Polytheism 84
The ‘god’ of Desire 87
Contents, continued
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common ground between islam and buddhism
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Introduction to Common Ground By H. R. H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad
And also:
Restrain thyself along with those who cry unto their Lord
at morn and evening, seeking His Countenance; and let not
thine eyes overlook them, desiring the pomp of the life of
the world; and obey not him whose heart We have made
heedless of Our remembrance, who followeth his own lust
and whose case hath been abandoned. (The Holy Qur’ān,
Al-Kahf, 18:28)
This explains why we do not simply propose a version of the Sec-
ond ‘Golden’ Commandment (‘Love thy Neighbour’) — versions
of which are indeed to be found in the same texts of Islam and Bud-
dhism (just as they are to be found in the sacred texts of Judaism,
Christianity, Hinduism, Confucianism and Taoism amongst other
religions): without the First ‘Golden’ Commandment (‘Love thy
God’), the Second Commandment on its own inherently risks being
spiritually devoid of truth, and thus risks descending into a superfi-
cial sentimentalism without true virtue and goodness; it risks being
a secular ethic taking its stance on moods which we can conjure up
to ourselves on occasion, requiring nothing from the soul, risking
nothing, changing nothing, deceiving all.
On the other hand, one of the greatest ironies of many religious
practitioners is that despite the fact that their religions call for mercy
and respect between people, they disparage others (and deny them that
mercy and respect) if those others do not undertake the same paths of
loving mercy as them. Thus love of their own religions makes them
less lovingly merciful to other people rather making them more merci-
ful to other people! This seems to me as a Muslim to be particularly
ironic, because in all four traditional Sunni Juridical Schools of Thought
(Madhahib), as well as in traditional Shi’a thought and Ibadhi thought
— that is to say, in all the traditional juridical schools of thought in Is-
lam as such) — a person’s choice of religion is not grounds for hostility
against them (if they are not first hostile to Muslims). Rather, Muslims
are required to behave with mercy and justice to all, believers and non-
believers alike. God says in the Holy Qur’ān:
Tell those who believe to forgive those who hope not for
the days of God; in order that He may requite folk what
they used to earn. / Whoso doeth right, it is for his soul,
and whoso doeth wrong, it is against it. And afterward unto
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common ground between islam and buddhism
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Introduction to Common Ground By H. R. H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad
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common ground between islam and buddhism
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Introduction to Common Ground By H. R. H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad
xv
common ground between islam and buddhism
xvi
Preface
by Professor Mohammad Hashim Kamali
xvii
common ground between islam and buddhism
xviii
Preface by Professor Mohammad Hashim Kamali
xix
common ground between islam and buddhism
lesser magnitude compared to the Torah, Bible, and Qur’ān, but re-
vealed books nevertheless, as all references to zubur must elicit ap-
proval if not veneration; in any case, it is unlikely the Qur’ān would
make repeated references to doubtful and false scriptures. It thus
becomes obvious upon scrutiny that Ahl al-Kitāb in the Qur’ān are
not confined to only the Jews and Christians.
On the other hand, those who restrict the category of Ahl al-Kitāb
to the Jews and Christians quote in authority the Qur’ān (6:156),
which declares that Books were revealed to two groups before, but
the context where this phrase occurs actually questions rather than
endorses the spirit of such a limitation. Let us briefly examine the
context: The verse (6:156) immediately follows two other verses,
one of which affirms the veracity of the Torah that contained guid-
ance and light. The succeeding verse refers to the Qur’ān itself as a
blessed Book (kitābun mubārakun) and an authoritative source. And
then comes the verse (6:156): Lest you should say (think) that Books
were sent down to two [groups] of people [only] before us, and for
our part, we remained unacquainted (with a revealed Book). The
tone of the discourse here is expressive of the favour bestowed by
God upon the Muslims through the revelation of the Qur’ān to them,
so that they do not say that God’s favour was confined to only two
groups of people. Therefore, to give this verse as evidence in sup-
port of confining the Ahl al-Kitāb to Jews and Christians is unwar-
ranted and leads to an indefensible conclusion. Yet the restrictive in-
terpretation may have been the result, not only of how the scriptural
evidence was understood, but also of historical factors, differential
practices that Islamic history records on the levying of the poll-tax
(jizya) on non-Muslims, and its impact on the binary division of the
world into Dār al-Islam and Dār al-Harb.
Without wishing to enter into details, it may be said in conclu-
sion that the Qur’ān clearly contains supportive evidence for the
more inclusive understanding of Ahl al-Kitāb, and the present ef-
fort to extend its application to the followers of Buddhism is in line
with the tenor of that evidence. The book at hand also reviews a
number of other supportive verses in the Qur’ān, side by side with
passages from Buddhist scriptures, in an effort to provide theologi-
cal justification for acceptability and recognition. This effort is to
be commended also on grounds of rationality and the spirit of civi-
lizational renewal (tajdīd) that may enhance the prospects of cordial
relations between the two faith communities. The common ground
xx
Preface by Professor Mohammad Hashim Kamali
xxi