The unity of religions

(Once in every three years or so I am invited to Tbilisi, Georgia, by the International Forum "Globalization and Dialogue between Civilizations." In May 2007 I spoke about The Unity of Religions. Much of my talk, especially the latter half, consisted of materials that had already been posted on this blog.

(The following is the text of the paper that I circulated at the Forum in 2007. When I speak I normally ad lib. I never stick to the written text and, I am told, this technique is more interesting, more effective.

(The 2007 Forum was organised the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, the Ministry of Culture, Monuments Protection and Sport of Georgia, International Foundation for the Support of Education and Solidarity in Business Life, and International Foundation "Diyalog Avrasya Platformu". Bless them all. It is a very noble effort.)

Yesterday His Excellency the Romanian Ambassador Dr Barliba pointed out that Tbilisi is a unique place because in a single neighbourhood you can find a mosque, a synagogue and the churches of three different denominations.

Actually it is a centuries old tradition in Tbilisi of conducting dialogues between religions. Therefore, today’s symposium is only natural. The Armenian church near the Private Demirel College is an excellent example of the dialogue between Islam and Christianity. It has a crescent moon under the steeple. I believe several Armenian churches in this part of the world also sport this, the best-known symbol of Islam.

But His Excellency the Romanian Ambassador did not mention Tbilisi’s Hiñdu connection.

Mtskheta

Many people think that Christianity and Hiñduism are two totally different religions. All that such people need to do is to travel a few kilometres from this room to Mtskheta, which was the capital of Georgia in ancient times. The most important church there is the 11^th century Svetitskhoveli (Living Pillar) Cathedral. On the eastern outer wall you will find two bulls’ heads sculpted in stone. The Hiñdus worship cattle. Ancient Hiñdus had cattle symbols on their seals. And yet these cattle heads prove nothing, because they have a very Georgian expression on their faces, and their presence at a Christian house of worship could be a mere coincidence.

But once inside the compound of the church nothing is left to the imagination. The first thing you see is a large stone sculpture of a bull, a roundel. The way it is sitting, the way it faces the church, its placement in the compound, even the look on its face, everything is exactly like that of its Hiñdu counterpart, the holy Nandi bull. The wind and the rains have blurred the details and perhaps vandals have severed the face, but the neck and the rest of the body remain intact.

And that is not all. Right inside Tbilisi, in the National Ethnographic Museum are graves with a bow and arrow symbol painted on them. this has, since well before the Christian era, been the symbol of the most popular Hiñdu deity, Srî Râm (Rama).

This paper will attempt to show that the various major religions of the world are essentially the same. Indeed, they are almost like translations of each other. Even the stories are the same. The story of Noah and his ark is found in every major religion. Lord Jesus is another great unifier. He was born a Jew and is a prophet of the Muslims. And if you look hard enough, you will find him in at least one Hiñdu scripture and in certain interpretations of Buddhism. The same is true of the word Allah. It is found in one form or another in all the major religions. And above all the concept of God who is both masculine and feminine is also true of all religions/

The differences are political, not doctrinal

Never mind the crusades, the holocaust and the present tensions between the Muslims and the Judæo-Christian West. These flashpoints were and are about power, not religious doctrine. Indeed, it is extremely easy to prove that at heart the Middle Eastern religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam—are the same. Christianity accepts almost everything that Judaism says, while Islam agrees with virtually all of Judaism and Christianity.

In the Middle East, the Muslims and Jews have been battling each other since the 1940s. But this conflict is about land, not religion.

If a Muslim tourist who is only mildly strict goes to a city with no Muslim butchers and he wants to eat food, he has three choices. He can starve, he can turn vegetarian or he can eat Jewish kosher meat, which is slaughtered exactly like the Muslim halâl. In such cities most Muslims eat only biscuits made by Jewish companies, because no Jew will use pigs’ fat in his biscuits.

Muslim boys get circumcised like their Jewish brothers. Both wear identical prayer caps which the Jews call the yermulka. The physical form of their daily prayers is quite similar, too. Both turn toward a holy place, called qibla, when they pray and they genuflect in that direction. Praying Muslims face Mecca. However, in the early days of Islam they would face Jerusalem, which is the Jews’ holy city, too.

The same is true of Hiñduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. All four Indian religions have a common core. Of course there are so many things that Sikhism teaches us that Hiñduism had not mentioned. But Sikhism does not repudiate anything that Hiñduism says. The same is true of Buddhism and Hiñduism. There are more differences between the Mahâyân and Theravâd schools of Buddhism, than between Buddhism and Hiñduism.[1]

The real excitement comes when one finds similarities between the three Middle Eastern religions and the four (or five) Indian religions. Together, these two regions account for all eight of the world’s great religions.[2]

Over the last twenty years I have looked for such proof—and found a lot.

Some people look for superficial differences because they want hatred to continue.

An agricultural scientist from India once argued that the Sikhs and Muslims could never be friends. According to him everything the Sikhs and Muslims do is the opposite of the other. The Sikhs are not allowed to eat halâl meat, while the Muslims can eat only halâl. The two also have a very long history of violent conflict.

But none of this has to do with Sikhism or Islam. The Sikhs’ holy scripture is called the Gurû Grañth Sâheb. It has one entire section drawn from the poetry of Bâbâ Farîd, the great Muslim saint. Another section is based on the poetry of Kabîr, a legendary saint who was born Muslim but he tried to find common ground between Hiñduism and Islam.

The male-female balance in God

The extremely popular book The Da Vinci Code spoke about the male-female balance in God. This is one issue on which almost all religions agree.

The Jews call God Yahweh, JHVH or YHWH. The Christians use the Name Jehovah. All four Names unite the masculine, Jah (see, for instance, Psalms 68:4) with Havah, which is the pre-Hebraic name for Eve.

Ardhnaareeshwar in Hiñduism means ‘God who is half woman and half man.’ This is a form of the Hindu deity Shiv ji. The concept exists in every religion known to man—with the possible exception of Islam.

But is Islam really an exception? It is true that Islam does not believe in deities. But the word Allah is gender-neutral. The categories ‘god’ and ‘goddess’ do not exist in Islam. Allah combines both.

Just as Jesus does. The name ‘Jesus’ is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua, which is a contraction of Yehoshuah (‘Yahweh is deliverance’). Thus Jesus, like other incarnations of God throughout the world, combines the masculine, Jah with the feminine Havah.

As author Dan Brown reminded us, Amon was the Egyptan deity of male fertility. Isis, better known as L’isa, was the lady-deity of fertility. Together they were called Amon Lisa, a name that later morphed into Mona Lisa.

The Greek deities Hermes and Aphrodite combined to form ‘hermaphrodite.’

The Confucian and Taoist principles osf yin (feminine) and yang (masculine) balance the male and female elements. Himalayan Buddhists use the words yab-yum instead of yin-yang. Hopi Native Americans believe that modern life has been thrown out of balance because the sacred feminine has been eliminated.

The word Allah

The word Allah itself is the greatest unifier. God, as Abu Hanîfâ, the eminent 8th century scholar, wrote, was always called Allah, even before Islam was revealed. Then why is this Name of God not found in any of the pre-Islamic religions that exist today?
Actually it is—and in almost all of them. Lhâ (pronounced ‘lâh’) is the word that all Himâlayan Buddhists use for ‘deity.’ Some Muslim scholars feel that the Name Allah is derived from ‘Al Lâh,’ which means ‘the God’ or, more precisely, ‘the secret one.’ Others say that Allah is short for Al Ilâh, which, too, means ‘the God.’

The father of modern India, Mahatma Gandhi, who named his granddaughter Ila, pointed out that Ilâ meant God in Sanskrit. In the ancient Hiñdu scripture, the Yajur Ved, Ila is Agni (fire) while Ilaa (feminine) is the Earth. God is called Ilâh in Arabic, Ilâhee in Persian, Elohim (masculine) and Eloah (feminine) in Hebrew and Eilee in Aramaic. Only the pronunciation changes around the world, not the word itself. (Aramaic was one of the languages that Lord Jesus spoke.)

The story of Noah and the great flood

The story of Noah and the great flood is almost identical in Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The Buddhist Lepchas of Sikkim and Darjeeling believe that their ancestors went to the top of the Tendong mountain and thus survived a flood caused by 40 days and 40 nights of rain. According to the Bible, God was angry because of the corrupt ways of the world. So he destroyed almost all creatures with a flood that lasted 40 days and 40 nights. Noah was spared for he was a good man.

Abraham, Isaac and Noah

It might even be possible to trace the roots of all religions to the Middle East. (In any case, many anthropologists believe that all of us have a common North African ancestor.) Christianity, Islam and Judaism all follow the spiritual legacy of the Biblical Abraham. Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. The Muslims believe that Ishmael was Abraham’s legitimate successor. The Christians and Jews have opted for Isaac. Indeed, the Jews hold that their divine message comes from Isaac's son Jacob. So, all three communities are united on Abraham and two on Isaac.

Should we remind ourselves of the unity that leads to Abraham or the divergences that developed after that?

At least one Islamic scholar, Maulana Shams Naved Usmani, has argued, with convincing evidence, that the Hiñdus are the spiritual heirs of Noah. Prophet Noah is called Noo in Arabic and other Middle Eastern languages. However, he might well be the supreme Hindu lawgiver Manu (ma-noo). This is yet another major bond between the three middle-Eastern religions and the Indian religions.

Almost all religions unite on Lord Jesus

Almost all religions unite on Lord Jesus. He might have founded Christianity, but he was born a Jew and belonged to the tradition of the prophets of the Old Testament. Islam accepts Jesus as a major prophet and holds him in the highest regard.

Christ in Islam

Islâm does not oppose the doctrine of bodily ascension to heaven.

There are two references in the Holy Quran to this, and both support bodily ascension:

Behold! Allah said:
“O Jesus! I will take thee
And raise thee to Myself…” (HQ 3: 55)

and

Nay, Allah raised [Jesus] up
Unto Himself; and Allah
Is Exalted in Power, Wise… (HQ 4: 158)

Thus, Islâm officially accepts that Lord Jesus was ‘taken up’. Incidentally, even the Bible uses the expression ‘taken up into heaven’ (Mark 16: 19).

The only reservation that Islam has is about Lord Jesus being a begotten Son of God. Should we focus on the countless points of agreement between Christianity and Islam or this one difference?

The concept of God, the Father, is not confined to Christianity. The Buddhists (and Hiñdus), too, worship Amit Âbhâ, whose name means God, the Father.

Virgin births: in Christianity, Hiñduism and in the Greek epics

‘Parthenos’ is Greek for ‘virgin’ while ‘genesis’ means ‘birth.’ The word parthenogenesis normally refers to Lord Jesus’ birth to a virgin mother. Countless Hindu and Greek heroes and deities, too, have a divine, spiritual father, in addition to a putative, physical, human father.

The Holy Ghost came upon Mother Mary, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her. Mary arose and went into the hill country, into a city of Juda. St. Luke writes, ‘That holy thing which was born of her was called the Son of God.’

Similarly, Pawan, the Hiñdu wind deity, entered the ear of the beautiful Lady Anjanâ and she went to a hill called Sumeru. Sri Hanuman, a very important Hiñdu deity, was born to her and was called the Son of the Wind God.

Joseph was Mother Mary’s husband, but God was the Christ’s father. Kesari ji was Hanuman ji’s putative father the way Joseph was Lord Jesus’.

Ravan, the saintly villain of Hiñduism, had a similar birth. His father Visrav had merely implanted a thought in his mother Kaikashi’s mind.

The name Jesus (Eesa) is the same as the Hiñdu word for God

The name Jesus is spelt and pronounced differently around the world. In the East he is called Ieosus, Eesaw, Yeshua, Eesa, Eeshu and Yeshu. God is known as Eesh in Sanskrit and almost all languages spoken by the Hiñdus. He is called Eesa in the most popular Hiñdu scripture. Therefore, it is no surprise that God, the Son, should have been named Eesa or Eeshu. That is His natural name, anyway.

There are unmistakeable references to a Christ-like character in Hiñdu historical records and, if it isn’t a forgery, a Hiñdu scripture mentions the Messiah himself.

Jesus in a Kashmîrî history book

A Kashmîrî history, The Rajatarangini (written AD 1148- 50) talks about Sandhimati Ârya Râj, the ‘greatest of all saints,’ who was a minister in the court of King Jayéndr (61 BC- AD 24). This saint led a life of poverty, was imprisoned for a long while and ‘died at the stake’. He was resurrected, after which he ‘consented to the prayers of the citizens’ and ruled Kashmîr for 47 years. [The word Rajatarangini has been translated as ‘Kings of Kashmîr[a]’ or KOK for short.]

Executing people ‘at the stake’ is not part of the Indian tradition.

The story of Sandhimati sounds almost as if it were taken right out of the Old Testament. Witness:

‘There was a rumour that the time would come when Sandhimati would reign… The king, alarmed at the probable consequences, threw Sandhimati into prison… and intended to execute [him].’[i]

Shades of Herod and the Pharoah?

Matthew 27:37 says of the crucified Christ, ‘And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is the King of the Jews.” ’

The Rajatarangini writes about Sandhimati, who had similarly died on a stake: ‘But when [Sandhimati’s master, Ishana] was going to perform the last ceremony [on Sandhimati], the following lines marked on his forehead by Vidhâtâ [God] caught his eye: “Poverty so long as he lives, ten years’ imprisonment, death on a pale, and then kingdom again.” ’[ii]

‘Kingdom again’ could refer to ‘Rex Iudaeorum’ (the RI of INRI) or to Jesus’ kingdom in heaven, more likely the latter. Or take these three aspects of the resurrection:

i)‘Necodemus also, who had at first come to him by night [after Jesus’ crucifixion], came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes…’ (John 19:39)

Ishan(a) could not sleep on the night of Sandhimati’s crucifixion. ‘At midnight… he felt the smell of burning incense…’ (KOK, Vol. I, Appendix C, page v.)

ii)Mary Magdalene ‘saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet…’ (John 20:12)

Ishan(a) ‘saw Yoginis [female yogis or saints] coming that way with a burning light. They then got hold of [Sandhimati’s] skeleton and ran away with it…’ (KOK, Vol. I, Appendix C, page v.)

iii)After Sandhimati had risen from the dead, he went to the town. ‘The citizens… at first doubted the identity of Sandhimati, but his speech dispelled their doubts.’ ’ (KOK, Vol. I, Appendix C, page vi.)

Didn’t Thomas (‘the Twin’) have similar doubts, too?

Christianity was unknown in Kashmîr till several centuries after The Rajatarangini was written. The author of this encyclopædic work was merely recording what he believed had happened in Kashmîr eleven hundred years before his time. And obviously he had got the name wrong.

A direct reference to Eesa the Messiah in a Hiñdu scripture

The clincher is a passage from the Sanskrit Bhavishya Maha Puran (lit.: the great scripture about the future), believed to have been written by Vyas in AD 115. Thanks to historian Aziz Kashmîri I have seen the photocopy of a page from the 1910 edition of this book. My first reaction on reading the page was, ‘This can’t be true. This must be a forgery. Or at least the book wasn’t originally written in AD 115. This could be a later interpolation.’

However, there can be no reason why a Hindu Mahârâjâ should have ordered the printing of a tampered version of an ancient Hindu scripture. Certainly not to prove that Lord Jesus had lived in Kashmîr, when there was no advantage in doing so.

The said passage reads, ‘There [while in a country in the mountains, Raja Shakewahin] saw [what appeared to be] a Raja of Sakas at Wien, who was fair and wore white clothes. [‘Wien’ is 18 km. from Srinagar.] He asked the man who he was. His reply was that he was Yusashaphat [Yuz Aasaf], and had been born of a woman…

‘[The man also said:] “O Raja, when truth had disappeared and there was no limit [to evil practices] in the malechha [non-Indian] country, I appeared there and through my work the guilty and the wicked suffered, and I too suffered at their hands.”

‘The Raja asked him what his religion was. He replied, “It is to establish love and truth and to purify one’s heart and for this I am called Isa Masih.” ’

Aziz Kashmîri (born 1919) has in his possession a photocopy of this page, taken from the Bhavishya Mahâ Purân (p. 282, ch. iii, sec. II, shlok 9-31, translated by Vidyavaridi Dr. Shiv Nath Shastri). The photocopy and more details about the information contained in this chapter appear in Aziz Kashmîri’s book Christ in Kashmîr, Roshni Publications, Srinagar. Its eighth edition was published in 1998.

The Sanskrit text has four incredible references. In verse 22 we are told of ‘Ish Putram’ [the Son of God]. The word ‘Ish’ is suspiciously close to ‘Isa,’ the Indo- Islâmic version of the name of Iesus Nazarenus, known in many Western countries as Jesus Christ.

Two verses later, the speaker says, ‘Masiho Ahem’ [I am the messiah]. Verse 25 leaves nothing to the imagination. It begins with the name of ‘Isha Masee’ [Jesus the Messiah]. Either we have a major forgery here, or a revelation of earth shaking dimensions. If these words were indeed written in AD 115, then there can be no doubt that this fair man in white clothes, this son of God, this messiah who calls himself Isha Masee, was Lord Jesus himself. Later in the same verse we have another reference to ‘Maseeh’, this time with a terminal ‘h’. Verse 27 mentions ‘Maseeha’, the messiah, yet again.

Îsh is the Hindu word for God. So that part can be a coincidence—albeit a divine coincidence. But the concept of ‘messiahs’ is unknown to Hinduism. If the above-mentioned page 282 of the AD 1910 edition is a faithful reproduction of the AD 115 original, then no further proof is needed.

Could Christ be the European word for Krishna?

‘Krishna and Christ, even the Names are the same.’ The British Hare Krishna magazine that carried this headline seemed to be stretching things. In English only the first syllable of the two Names is identical. However, the word Christ is pronounced differently in each European language. In several Mediterranean languages such as Ibicenco (the language of Ibiza, Spain) Lord Jesus is called (Santa) Krista. Comes eerily close.

The route Lord Jesus took during the Missing Years

I remember reading about a village in Japan, the inhabitants of which are Caucasoid, tall and, often, brown- haired. They claim to be the descendants of Lord Jesus. Their story could be totally untrue. But the belief that Lord Jesus had visited their land pops up in Murree and Lahore (both in Pâkistân), then Kashmîr, Ladâkh, Benares, Nepal and China. Add these dots together and you get a clearly defined and credible ‘Jesus- route’ from Palestine to China and Japan. No one in lands either north or south of that route claims that Jesus had passed through or settled in their country.

The second coming: of the Lords Jesus and Buddha

There is a belief that the ‘Maitreya’ of Buddhism is the same as ‘Messiah.’ Maitreya or Metteyya is possibly the Indian word for Messiah while Bagwâ Metteyya means ‘White Skinned Messiah.’ Some even argue that Râhula, the name of Lord Buddha’s son, is Sanskrit for Rûhullâh, ‘the essence of Allah.’ (The English “T” and “Th” correspond to “S" in Arabic and Persian.)

Some Buddhist texts indicate that the Buddha had predicted that five hundred years after his death another Buddha, called Mitya, would arise. Could this be the Messiah? A Christ-like prophet has been mentioned by the name of Mi-Shi-Hu in books written in Tibet during the 7th century AD.

Meraj and Lha Bab Duechen: Muhammad and Buddha visit heaven

Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was sleeping at the house of his cousin Umm-e-Hani. Archangel Gabriel brought him an animal called Buraaq. The Prophet mounted Buraaq and visited Kaaba (Mecca), Medina, Mount Sinai, Bethlehem and Masjid al-Aqsa. At Aqsa he met Abraham, Moses, Lord Jesus and all the other Prophets. Buraaq then flew Prophet Muhammad through the universe, past hell and heaven. Gabriel was not allowed beyond Sidrah ul Muntahâ. However, the Prophet ‘certainly saw the greatest signs of the existence of God.’ (Holy Quran, 53:12-18) This event is called the Mérâj.

The Shakyamuni Buddha, too, had bodily visited heaven. Lord Buddha used to miss his mother, Queen Mahâ Mâyâ, who had died in his childhood. Six years after he attained enlightenment, Buddha used his spiritual powers to go to Trayastrimsa, the heaven where his mother was. The deities there so loved him that they refused to let him return. His disciple Maudgalyâyan successfully argued that the deities could visit Buddha on earth but earthlings could not go to heaven to listen to the Lord’s sermons. Buddha was thus able to return to earth. The Himâlayan Buddhists celebrate the event as Lha Bab Duechen.

Sufism is universal

Sufism is an Islamic path that encourages people to know God directly. It is called tasawwuf in Arabic, Persian and Urdu. Scholar Cyril Glasse writes, ‘The Sufi doctrine has been likened to Neo-Platonism, to Hiñdu Vedaant, to the mystical theology of Eastern Christianity, and even to Taoism, all of which it clearly resembles.’

India’s Muslim Emperor Jehangir (1569-1627) had a Hindu spiritual guide named Jadrup. The Mughal Emperor would say, "Jadrup’s Vedaant is the same as our tasawwuf.’

Ibrahim Ibn Adham (died 778), a renowned Arab mystic, wrote, "My Master in Spiritual Knowledge was a [Christian] monk called Father Simeon."

Many Eastern people, who believe in the oneness of all religions, who want to reach God but nor subscribe to any religion in particular, sometimes adopt the way of the Sûfîs.

Ram and Allah in Ramallah

In the Arabic language, the name of the Palestinian city Ramallah is spelt ‘Râm Allah’—as two words, not one.

The door to God: Sikhism and Shiite Islam

Every Sikh temple is called a gurudwârâ, the door to the Supreme Teacher (God). Many Shia Ghulat groups believe that Hazrat Ali, the great saint and spiritual leader, and the Imâms (spiritual guides) are doorways to God,

The festival of lights in Hinduism and Judaism

Hanukah is the Jewish festival of lights, very similar to the Hiñdu Diwali.

Consideration towards animals: Hanumân jî and Prophet Muhammad

According to the 7th century A.D. work Bhattikâvya, the Hiñdu deity Hanumân jî tiptoed gently into the Ashok grove as he did not want a single sleeping bird to be woken up because of him.

Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, once awoke to find a cat sleeping on his cloak. On the one hand the Prophet had to get up and go. On the other, he did not want to wake the cat. So he noiselessly cut the portion that the cat was on away from the rest of the cloak.

Even in their behaviour, the Prophets of different religions have acted identically.

The Names of God in Sikhism-Hinduism and Islam

Allah is believed to have 99 names. So does Lord Vishnu, who is part of the Supreme Hiñdu trinity. Hiñduism and Islam are supposed to be very different. And yet the Names of God in Sikhism-Hinduism and Islam are literal translations of each other. I could present an entire paper on this, but let us take only a sample today.

God is anâdî (‘the One Who has no beginning’) in Hinduism-Sikhism. The Islamic Names Al Qadîmu and Al Lazî Lam Yalid wa Lam Yû-lad mean precisely the same. The words âdî and Qadîm are synonyms.

In Islam God is known as the One who is holy and pure—Al Quddûsu, As Subbûhu, As Subhânu, Az Zakîu, An Naqîyû, At Tâhir, Al Âlî, Al Khâlisu, Al Mukhlisu and At Taqîyû. The Hindu-Sikh Name nirañjan, too, means ‘the Holy One.’

The Sikhs and Hindus believe that God is achal (‘the One Who is always constant’). So do the Muslims when they say that God is Al Matînu, Al Qâemu, Al Qâemu-bil-qist and As Sâbitu.

Centuries before Prophet Moses (and, later, the Holy Qur'ân) said so, several Hindus believed that God was niraakâr (the One Who does not have a form [aakâr]).

God, the eternal: Islam and Hiñduism

Of the seven qualities (haft sifât) of God in Islam, the first is Hayât (life). This means that God cannot be seen. He does not have a body, figure or form. He is not a substance. Limits cannot circumscribe Him. Nor can measures determine Him. He has no beginning or end. On all these counts the definition is exactly like that of the supreme God of the Vedic Hindus: a circle without circumference, without beginning or end and without a body or form.

The Ten Commandments and the Buddhist doctrine

Lord Buddha advised against ten ‘non-goodnesses.’ Five of them, and the order in which they occur, are exactly the same as the last five of the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament. These are prohibitions against: killing a living creature, theft, adultery, lying and avarice. (The other five Buddhist non-goodnesses are: creating misunderstandings, hurtful words, silly words, wanting to cause injury, and incorrect beliefs.)

Lord Buddha in the Holy Qur'ân

The Holy Qur'ân mentions Prophet Dhu’l (or Zu’l) Kifl, about whom Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was always silent. Zu or dhu means 'of.' Kifl probably means Kapil because Arabic does not have a ‘p.’ Therefore, this prophet in all probability was Lord Buddha of Kapila.

With so much in common between the various religions of the world, what are we fighting about? Certainly not religion, because all of us believe in more or less the same things.

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[1]Just as the Protestants and Catholics diverge on almost as many points as the Christians and Muslims do.

[2] Zoroastrianism was born in Iran. However, today India is its headquarters—and main home. This erudite religion is very much like fire-worshipping Védic Hiñduism, and originally had an identical caste system.

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[i] (KOK [Kings of Kashmîrâ] Book II, Page 30. Kings of Kashmîrâ is an English translation of The Rajatarangini.)

[ii] (Appendix C, page v, Volume I, KOK.)