Islam and Buddhism; A Study of Medieval literature and its significance for peaceful co-existence

Abstract

“Buddhism and Islam interacted each other in maximum spheres of life, during the last thirteen and a half centuries across Asia; Afghanistan, eastern Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan India and central Asia. Within this panorama of history certain images of interaction are displayed in the form of actions and literature. In history of both civilizations, many kind of interaction has existed but the literary one can be considered long living and fruitful in any nation’s history.The article starts with a short introduction of relevant Arabic words like al-Budd, Bozasf, Shamniyah. The primary focus of the paper is to sort out the piece of information about Buddhism in medieval Muslim literature. A precise but comprehensive study of the written works which deals with any aspect of Buddhism is presented here. Structurally the paper highlights century wise data like from 7^th century al-Kermānī’s work to Bayt al-Hikmat, Murūj al-Zahab, Kitāb al-Fihrist, Al-Berūnī’s work, Jāmi’ al-Tawārīkh and Kitāb al-Milal wa al-Nihal (12^CE). Some clues of Bozasf (Buddha) are also found in classical Arabic dictionaries and books of ‘Ilm al-Kalām- scholastic theology but it goes beyond the scope of subject matter as the article is inclined to historical works. The second focus of the article is to find out how Islam has been portrayed in medieval Buddhist literary works- Kālāchakra Tantara and others. Descriptive methodology has been applied while exploring both the literatures. By doing this some mutually elaborated themes and topics has been extracted. A precise comparison and sharp analysis of all the characteristics has been presented to know that only the ethical and social aspects of Religions can be a feasible ground for fruitful Buddhist-Muslim dialogue in contemporary world. It ends up with detailed recommendations and concluding remarks elaborating plausible foundations for peaceful co-existence.”