Hinduism VS Islam

[Trumble]

Allah is your Lord and Creator, and the Creator of the Sun and Moon, and that is a fact. Whether you choose to accept that fact or not makes no difference to the truth of the fact.

No, it is what you believe to be a fact, and in the absence of any empirical or logical proof whatsoever that means that it is only a belief, and not a fact. My belief is that no such entity exists other than a figment of the collective human imagination, something for which there is also no empirical or logical proof!

You can use the search function and put in "prove Allah exists" and the like, the subject has been dealt with many times before and you can read all about it.

You mean read about the same old arguments (both ways) that have been floating about for hundreds or even thousands of years 'proving' absolutely nothing?

 

[Insaanah]

No, it is what you believe to be a fact, and in the absence of any empirical or logical proof whatsoever that means that it is only a belief, and not a fact.

As I said you are free to your beliefs. It doesn't, however change the fact.

My belief is that no such entity exists other than a figment of the collective human imagination, something for which there is also no empirical or logical proof!

As I said, you are free to believe that.

The very fact that we are here is enough proof, that the world is here is proof. I see proof of Allah's existence all around me.

You mean read about the same old arguments (both ways) that have been floating about for hundreds or even thousands of years 'proving' absolutely nothing?

No. I mean some of the brilliant posts by Muslims drawing people's attention to prrofs of Allah's existence, for anyone who may be interested in seeing them and learning.

Peace.

 

[Trumble]

No. I mean some of the brilliant posts by Muslims drawing people's attention to prrofs of Allah's existence..

Ah then, so you DO mean the same tired old arguments that have been floating about for hundreds or even thousands of years 'proving' absolutely nothing. Presented in suitably one sided fashion to an audience that already accepts their 'conclusions' as fact, of course!

Anyway, enough of that off-topicness, which I know I started. This is supposed to be about Hinduism.

 

[Zafran]

Hindus do not find it difficult to remake idols that are destroyed. They do it all the time.

can the absoulte be destroyed? Does God need replacing? The Idol does but God does not as God is all powerful. Why would the one that is all powerful need replacing?

That you worship Allah directly is only a myth. How can you worship Allah if you do not use His name Allah? Allah is only a word, though Muslims believe that He is much much more than a word.

Allah swt is the all powerful God that we both agree God is - the idols are not so they are not an accurate representation of God.

Just like you believe Allah has powers, idol-worshippers believe that their idols have powers - because they believe that that power is not limited to the idol. Can you prove that Allah has power (apart from your belief)?

We Both agree that God is all powerful - from here we can see that Idol cannot be a true representation of God as it is not all powerul - for example it is dependent on humans - whilst God the all powerful is not. The idol is a total contradcition of the all powerful.

Idols are only a limited representation of the unlimited for the limited mind. When the mind, through spiritual practices moves to unlimitedness, then it no longer requires idols. Do you think Allah is contained or limited to his name Allah?

Allah is not contained anywhere not in his name as that would contradcit the all power - the huge difference here is that your defending that idols have power and not any sort of power but the power of God - This cannot be true as the Idols are not all powerful whilst we both agree that God is. This does not require any radical spiritual path as I am sure anyone could see that the idols are not all powerful.

 

[Insaanah]

Hindus believe that God is Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent. Of these, Muslims only believe that God is Omnipotent and Omniscient but not Omnipresent.

He has knowledge of everything but is not physically everywhere. Allah is above the heavens, separate from the creation but among His creation by His being All-Hearing, All-Seeing, and All-Knowing.

Hindus do not find it difficult to remake idols that are destroyed. They do it all the time.

Shame they can't re-make themselves. They need a human to make them.

The question is, why do you limit God to a direction and worship Him? Similarly, Hindus limit God to a idol and worship Him.

We do not limit God. The simple reason we pray facing towards Masjid al Haraam in Makkah is because it is the command of Allah, our Creator, Whom we worship, and NOT because he is physically in that direction. It is a great unifier for Muslims all over the globe.

That you worship Allah directly is only a myth. How can you worship Allah if you do not use His name Allah?

We worship Allah directly. No third party, no intermediary, no obstacle. Direct worship of our Lord and Creator. And we use his name to begin the prayer, saying, "Allahu Akbar", i.e. Allah is the Greatest, then we start, "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds". We've used His Glorious name twice within a few seconds, and we carry on using it during the prayer. Later on we say, "You Alone we worship, and You Alone we ask for help". I don't know where you got the idea that we worship Him without using His name.

Just like you believe Allah has powers, idol-worshippers believe that their idols have powers - because they believe that that power is not limited to the idol.

See my first post above. It's strange that if the idols have power that isn't limited to them, that they can be actually be destroyed, and once destroyed, they can't remake themselves unless a human makes them. That doesn't sound too powerful to me.

Can you prove that Allah has power (apart from your belief)?

Yes. He had the power to create this world and all of us. We didn't just random cells come together. The perfect functioning of the sun and moon, the natural phenomena described in the Qur'an some of which have only been scientifically "discovered" relatively recently in the worlds history - that is nothing but the work of an All-Powerful Allah.

Peace.

 

[K.Venugopal]

What makes the moon a fact and Allah not ? because you see it ? What makes you think that everything you see is true i.e a fact, and everything you don't see is not a fact ? I think for understanding what makes the moon a fact and Allah only a belief, we have to first understand the difference between the subjective and the objective. That which is subjective is that which is only in our mind and that which is objective is that which also exists outside our mind. Can you prove Allah exists outside your mind? Do you need proof to determine that the moon exists outside your mind – is that not obvious (though we can think of the moon in our minds)?


For the vegetarian Hindu communities, what are their reasons for being vegetarian, is that because they feel guilty to kill animals

For individuals it is a choice and for communities it is a tradition. Somewhere at the beginning of choosing to be vegetarian, the pioneers may have thought it may be a more cultured way of meeting the most fundamental of man’s need. Or maybe in the beginning all were vegetarians till some moved over to non-vegetarianism, due probably to necessity of circumstances. I am not able to hazard any guesses beyond this.

 

[Karl]

I remember once seeing some extensive artical trying to claim that Islam was merely "recycled Hinduism", and it was giving all kinds of parallels between the two religions and making connections between figures such as Brahma with Abraham. Has anyone else encountered these sort of claims? I have also heard that Hinduism had its original roots in West Asia rather than South Asia, so perhaps Hinduism has some connections with pre Islamic religion.

 

[K.Venugopal]

He has knowledge of everything but is not physically everywhere. Allah is above the heavens, separate from the creation but among His creation by His being All-Hearing, All-Seeing, and All-Knowing.

All-Hearing and All-Seeing is equal to All-Knowing. All knowing is Omniscient. That does not make Him Omnipresent. Therefore the description of God in Islam is less than the description of God in Hinduism.

Shame they can't re-make themselves. They need a human to make them.

Why should reality be a shameful thing?

We do not limit God.

You just did that when you limited Him to outside creation or not being one with creation.

The simple reason we pray facing towards Masjid al Haraam in Makkah is because it is the command of Allah, our Creator, Whom we worship, and NOT because he is physically in that direction. It is a great unifier for Muslims all over the globe.

Accepted. But when thinking of the limited idols, please remember that Allah Himself instructed you to approach Him in a specific (limited) manner. This is only natural. We have to be specific to enable us to grasp the universal.

We worship Allah directly. No third party, no intermediary, no obstacle. Direct worship of our Lord and Creator. And we use his name to begin the prayer, saying, "Allahu Akbar", i.e. Allah is the Greatest, then we start, "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds". We've used His Glorious name twice within a few seconds, and we carry on using it during the prayer. I don't know where you got the idea that we worship Him without using His name.

You misread what I wrote. I said you cannot worship Him without using His name. His name is only a word. And a word is considered a thing. Which means without a thing, word in this case, you cannot worship Allah, i.e., you cannot worship Allah directly.

See my first post above. It's strange that if the idols have power that isn't limited to them, that they can be actually be destroyed, and once destroyed, they can't remake themselves unless a human makes them. That doesn't sound too powerful to me.

Dear Insaan, I think you are assuming that Hindus believe that their Gods are limited to the idols. Not at all. Not only do they believe that their Gods are unlimited, but that they are all one with only the expressions being different. If you throw a stone and break a bulb, would you thereby kill electricity? If a bulb is broken, can’t we easily replace it with another bulb? Pointing out the limitation of idols does not prove that the Hindus worship the limited.

Yes. He had the power to create this world and all of us.

The belief that God created everything is universal. But the belief that that God is named Allah is not universal.

We didn't just random cells come together.

You believe that the creator is outside creation and therefore you need Him to have arranged or willed random cells for creation to come about. Those who do not believe that the creator is outside His creation but is within creation can certainly believe that random cells came together when that which is within everything – life, decided on its course of devolution and evolution.

The perfect functioning of the sun and moon, the natural phenomena described in the Qur'an some of which have only been scientifically "discovered" relatively recently in the worlds history - that is nothing but the work of an All-Powerful God.

That all existence is functioning perfectly is a fact always known to the best of men – it did not have to await the arrival of the Quran to come within the ken of man.

 

[marwen]

Peace K.Venugopal,

I think for understanding what makes the moon a fact and Allah only a belief, we have to first understand the difference between the subjective and the objective. That which is subjective is that which is only in our mind and that which is objective is that which also exists outside our mind. Can you prove Allah exists outside your mind? Do you need proof to determine that the moon exists outside your mind – is that not obvious (though we can think of the moon in our minds)?

Yes I can prove for someone who never saw the moon that the moon exists : I'll go out with him at night an show him the moon, that's the proof. Yes I can give a proof outside my mind, but the problem is : will he accept my proof ? Imagine I'm showing the moon to a blind person : he won't understand/accept my proof. However for others (who can see) it's a sufficient proof.
The same way, I can give you many proofs that Allah exists. But some people will not see it as a proof, however many others will accept it as a proof : look at the big number of people entering in Islam, do you think they just read the mind of one muslim calling them to islam, or they saw proofs out of his mind and accepted them ?

For individuals it is a choice and for communities it is a tradition. Somewhere at the beginning of choosing to be vegetarian, the pioneers may have thought it may be a more cultured way of meeting the most fundamental of man’s need. Or maybe in the beginning all were vegetarians till some moved over to non-vegetarianism, due probably to necessity of circumstances. I am not able to hazard any guesses beyond this.

Ok. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[bhakti]

alright guys...this is prolly my last post on this forum coz people here are pretty much stuck with their own beliefs and believe they have the license to pass judgements on other faiths without ever having put in even a shred of effort into understanding them. Of course, when someone calls Quran 'political ideology' and 'terrorist propoganda' the response is 'you know nothing about Quran and Islam. Go read the Quran'. The same response to criticism of Hinduism, however, doesn't seem acceptable. Such an attitude can IN NO WAY foster an open mind regardless of whatever you may claim.

Anyway, here's my take on idol worship:

1) When you pray, it is only the sincerity of your devotion that is of utmost importance. If you consider an idol as God and worship it then, essentially, to your mind, you are worshiping God since, to you, the idol is God. As such, God, being able to understand the sincerity of his devotee, knows that in the worshiper's mind he is praying to God and therefore accepts his devotee's prayers. Therefore, irrespective of whether the idol is objectively God or not, the worshiper's subjective knowledge is good enough for his prayers to reach the required destination.

2) So you ask why not pray to God directly? Why an idol at all? Having an idol amplifies devotion by several notches. Would you lik to only think of your little child in your mind or have him right in front of your eyes so you can shower all your love on him? Having your idol in front of you enables you to see God, subjectively, in front of you and thus offer prayers, offer flowers etc. lik as though you are interacting with God directly. And again, since God understands his devotees well he knows the idol means God to his devotee and hence accepts the love the devotee showers on him.

3) After the end of the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, the Ganesh idol is submerged in water and destroyed. The next year new idols are made. Wooden deities of Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshan Chakra are submerged and remade every year in the ancient Jagannath Temple of Orissa. Therefore, the idea of idol destruction is not new and infact stands testimony to the fact that idols are not objectively considered as God among Hindus.

4) Someone said 'why doesn't the idol punish me if I destroy it' to which I asked 'why doesnt Allah strike me down if I abuse him'? The reply I got was 'you can't abuse Allah'. This argument seems rather nonsensical coz if I can make Allah the object of my prayers then surely I can make him the object of abuse too? Plus, the Quran expressly lays down punishments for the abusers of Allah which means abuse of Allah should be possible?

These are my arguments and if you are still stuck with your 'idol cant move on its own so its not God' rhetoric then that is you prerogative to do so.

 

[Zafran]

Bhakti the problem still stands - God is all powerful the idols are not - they cannot be an accuarate representation of God for that very reason. Allah swt is just another word for God - the all powerful. Just by saying its all subjective isnt good enough as it doesnt solve the problem of preety much lying against God which we both believe is all powerful and the idols are not.

Heres another problem is God dependent or independent of humans???

 

[أحمد]

Ah then, so you DO mean the same tired old arguments that have been floating about for hundreds or even thousands of years 'proving' absolutely nothing. Presented in suitably one sided fashion to an audience that already accepts their 'conclusions' as fact, of course!

Anyway, enough of that off-topicness, which I know I started. This is supposed to be about Hinduism.

Proof of existence compared to assumption of non-existence; weigh the case within your own logic. Arguments and counter arguments need a base; in this case the argument against God's existence is a mere assumption.

:wa:

 

[Ğħαrєєвαħ]

Greetings of Peace to you

Because the concept of idol worship appears difficult for you to grasp, may I try giving an example. By destroying the Quran (as some people propose to burn it on 9/11), is anything substantial destroyed thereby? Or maybe something more than substantial is destroyed thereby – our emotions that go with it. We need the idol and therefore we have made the idol. The idol did not make itself. Just as the Quran in book form.

The Quraan is not destroyed when someone burns it rather the book is, but it is quite insulting to followers that such events take place in this case it is insulting to the Muslims. If your holy book was burnt, would you not feel angry and insulted? You made the Idol and you worship the idol, meaning you created God as you worship the idol in the form of your God. I quote you "Just as the Quran in book form" what do you mean by this statement , we do not worship the book rather we follow the teachings of the book , as its a revelation we muslims believe is from God and not written by man.

The power of Shiva is beyond the idol (that is, it is not confined to the idol). Though Allah is not confined in the direction of Mecca, why do Muslims confine their worship of Him in that direction? Is this due to the limitation of Allah or Muslims??

We muslims face in the directin of Mecca as its a form of Unity, so every Muslim around the whole of this earth and creatures face in that direction during prayer, its called Unity. We are united and all One Ummah!. Nope its not due to limitations, its just the direction we are commanded to face which is one direction for the whole Muslim nation.

Idols are worshipped in the believe that God is thereby worshipped. Those who do not need idols to worship are not forced to have them. (Islam, for example, does not need these concrete idols.) And then there are those who do not need to worship at all because they have discovered God within them (Islam has not reached this level). Whether the idol represents God or not is the faith or belief of the worshipper, just as Allah is God is the faith of the Muslim worshipper.?

Idols are worshipped in the form of God. God is everywhere, why do you need idols? what part of accepting your prayer will the rock do? You are giving God forms of different animals, human etc. The Islamic belief is there is only one God, and he does not need to be worshipped in forms on different images, God is our Lord allmighty and i am sure you believe that also.

Idol is useful for those who require them. When you worship something that is outside you, that is idol worship. Therefore, Islam is also idol worship.?

Then that is just your own opinion, i quote you |"Idol is useful for those who require them" do you have any source of authentic reference if not thats just your opinion on what you have been brought up with indeed. God created us, he taught us of what we (Mankind) new not of according to the Quraan, If God is limited , how could he have created the world how could we associate partners with the one who is all powerful, all knowing, the majestic(these are a few of the names of Allaah/God according to the Quraan)? why do you need rocks to worship God? When Rock is itself a creation of God?

Whether idol has power or not is a matter of experience. Many people have stated that idols have power. What are we to say of that? ?

I quote you "What are we to say of that?" Well we are to say that rock/stone is a creation of God, and God is allmighty we dont need to give him forms of idol worship of creatures etc.etc.

And pray, what is the main thing?

Pray is when we pray to God, we ask him for what we want, in our time of needs etc , Allaah asks us to pray our daily prayers as its a commandment and the best thing is , Pray will not benefit God it will only benefit US, like i said he is the All Majestic!

What you consider the main thing may not be the main thing for others. Got it??

Well a muslims reply would be what Allaah says in the Quraan:"Lakum deenukum waliya deeni " -"For you (is) your religion, and for me (is) my religion." But verily you should do some research and study as Prophets were sent to every nation.


Peace

 

[K.Venugopal]

can the absoulte be destroyed?

No.

Does God need replacing?

No.

The Idol does but God does not as God is all powerful.

Yes.

Why would the one that is all powerful need replacing?

Idols represent the all powerful and in that role, help us connect with the all-powerful and therefore is as good as all powerful for us. Whenever the all-powerful wishes to demonstrate the power of an idol, such power has been demonstrated through the idol. So though it may seem technically destructible, many idols have remained intact over aeons and are worshipped even today as they were worshipped aeons before. Such stories prove that just because technically it is possible for man to break anything made of stone, it does not actually happen that all idols gets broken. The very fact that all idols do not get broken prove that it has a power that is protecting it, which for the idol worshipper is as good as the power within the idol itself.

Allah swt is the all powerful God that we both agree God is-

I do not agree with this statement so long as Allah is not a generic word like God.

the idols are not so they are not an accurate representation of God.

A representation is just that, a representation – not the real thing. You can say that we both agree that God is all powerful, because God is a generic word which incorporates the meaning you and I give to it. But I do not agree Allah is all powerful because the word Allah is not a generic word that incorporates the meaning of God that I would have. In fact, far from allowing the word Allah to grow into a generic word as the word God has grown, Muslims want to restrict the word and do not want even the Christians to use the word Allah for God, as happened in a case in Malaysia.

We Both agree that God is all powerful - from here we can see that Idol cannot be a true representation of God as it is not all powerul - for example it is dependent on humans - whilst God the all powerful is not. The idol is a total contradcition of the all powerful.

The idol is for the benefit of man. It was never intended in Hinduism that there be a contention for power between the idol and God. Maybe this idea is there in Islam and maybe this is why Allah appears to be very intolerant of idols, as if somewhere He suspected idols had power to usurp Him, at least in popularity among men!

Allah is not contained anywhere not in his name as that would contradcit the all power

That Allah is not contained even in His name is exactly the point I wished to make, and yet you need to use His name to get to Him.

- the huge difference here is that your defending that idols have power and not any sort of power but the power of God –

The power of God and the power in idols are entirely on different basis. The power in idols is the power to awaken us to our divinity, because the idols act as focus of our efforts to awaken to our divinity. The power of God is the absolute power, not limited by any identifiable name or form.

This cannot be true as the Idols are not all powerful whilst we both agree that God is.

Idol worship can lead us to the all powerful God.

This does not require any radical spiritual path as I am sure anyone could see that the idols are not all powerful.

You are making this out to be a war between idols and God. This is the stand of none less than Allah Himself, who considered idols the greatest potential threat to His authority. The Hindus would only laugh at such a position. For Hindus, idols are the gateways to God.

 

[K.Venugopal]

Proof of existence compared to assumption of non-existence; weigh the case within your own logic. Arguments and counter arguments need a base; in this case the argument against God's existence is a mere assumption.

The existence of something does not necessarily mean the existence of God.

 

[K.Venugopal]

God is all powerful the idols are not –

In the Hindu scheme of things there is no confrontation between God and idols. In Islam there is and therefore you need to debunk idols to pass God’s loyalty test.

they cannot be an accuarate representation of God for that very reason.

A representation is just that, a representation of the real thing, not the real thing.

Allah swt is just another word for God - the all powerful.

As Muslims have made it out and insist, Allah is not just another word for God. God has become a generic word and Muslims do not want the same thing to happen to Allah. For example, I can call Krishna God and there will be no objections etymologically from any quarter. But I cannot call Krishna Allah. This is not permitted by Muslims because they have a unique meaning for the word Allah confined to Islamic understanding.

Heres another problem is God dependent or independent of humans???

The only difference between God and everything else in existence is that God is eternal, absolute etc., whereas everything else in existence is ephemeral, limited etc. This position however does not make God separate from the rest of existence, but one with existence, existence being nothing other than different aspects of God. There is an interplay of God and humans in the drama of existence and in the poetry of such interplay, God has proclaimed that He is a willing servant to his dearest pilgrims. These sorts of expressions are of course not to be taken in black and white but as creating the mood for man’s affair with God.

 

[K.Venugopal]

alright guys...this is prolly my last post on this forum coz people here are pretty much stuck with their own beliefs and believe they have the license to pass judgements on other faiths without ever having put in even a shred of effort into understanding them. Of course, when someone calls Quran 'political ideology' and 'terrorist propoganda' the response is 'you know nothing about Quran and Islam. Go read the Quran'. The same response to criticism of Hinduism, however, doesn't seem acceptable. Such an attitude can IN NO WAY foster an open mind regardless of whatever you may claim.

Anyway, here's my take on idol worship:

1) When you pray, it is only the sincerity of your devotion that is of utmost importance. If you consider an idol as God and worship it then, essentially, to your mind, you are worshiping God since, to you, the idol is God. As such, God, being able to understand the sincerity of his devotee, knows that in the worshiper's mind he is praying to God and therefore accepts his devotee's prayers. Therefore, irrespective of whether the idol is objectively God or not, the worshiper's subjective knowledge is good enough for his prayers to reach the required destination.

2) So you ask why not pray to God directly? Why an idol at all? Having an idol amplifies devotion by several notches. Would you lik to only think of your little child in your mind or have him right in front of your eyes so you can shower all your love on him? Having your idol in front of you enables you to see God, subjectively, in front of you and thus offer prayers, offer flowers etc. lik as though you are interacting with God directly. And again, since God understands his devotees well he knows the idol means God to his devotee and hence accepts the love the devotee showers on him.

3) After the end of the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, the Ganesh idol is submerged in water and destroyed. The next year new idols are made. Wooden deities of Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshan Chakra are submerged and remade every year in the ancient Jagannath Temple of Orissa. Therefore, the idea of idol destruction is not new and infact stands testimony to the fact that idols are not objectively considered as God among Hindus.

4) Someone said 'why doesn't the idol punish me if I destroy it' to which I asked 'why doesnt Allah strike me down if I abuse him'? The reply I got was 'you can't abuse Allah'. This argument seems rather nonsensical coz if I can make Allah the object of my prayers then surely I can make him the object of abuse too? Plus, the Quran expressly lays down punishments for the abusers of Allah which means abuse of Allah should be possible?

These are my arguments and if you are still stuck with your 'idol cant move on its own so its not God' rhetoric then that is you prerogative to do so.

What a wonderful overview of idol worship. You have written it with a great sense of proportion. Please do not leave this forum, unless you are pressed for time. The folks here are nice guys really.

 

[K.Venugopal]

I remember once seeing some extensive artical trying to claim that Islam was merely "recycled Hinduism", and it was giving all kinds of parallels between the two religions and making connections between figures such as Brahma with Abraham. Has anyone else encountered these sort of claims? I have also heard that Hinduism had its original roots in West Asia rather than South Asia, so perhaps Hinduism has some connections with pre Islamic religion.

I would not agree that Islam is recycled Hinduism because I do not deny the capacity of man to be innovative. At the same time it would always turn out that there is nothing new under the sun - what appears a novelty today may have had its nucleus in yesterday's thought.

 

[Muslimeen]

I would not agree that Islam is recycled Hinduism because I do not deny the capacity of man to be innovative. At the same time it would always turn out that there is nothing new under the sun - what appears a novelty today may have had its nucleus in yesterday's thought.

Even if hinduism has it's roots from prophet Abraham (AS) it has been changed far beyond recognition. Islam may have something in common with other prophetic religions, but instead of being a recycled version of any of these it is an improved and polished version. Unspoiled by man it remains in it's true glory. So it's upto you whether you want to follow a conconcted out of date version or the revised upto date original version.

 

[Trumble]

I remember once seeing some extensive artical trying to claim that Islam was merely "recycled Hinduism", and it was giving all kinds of parallels between the two religions and making connections between figures such as Brahma with Abraham. Has anyone else encountered these sort of claims? I have also heard that Hinduism had its original roots in West Asia rather than South Asia, so perhaps Hinduism has some connections with pre Islamic religion.

It certainly had it's roots with the Aryan (a word with several different uses that should not be confused) people who migrated into India possibly even as early as 4000 BCE, with some of the Vedic scriptures dating from as early as 1500 BCE. Those same people actually migrated across pretty much all of Europe as well (even the name Eire - Ireland - is of that origin!), as is still revealed today by the distribution of the so-called Indo-European language family. That does not include Hebrew and Arabic, and I'm not aware of any vaguely convincing link between what became Hinduism and Abraham. Frankly, the article sounds like a Yahya-esque fabrication intended to try and gain Hindu converts to Islam. As with Buddhism, about which I'm rather more knowledgeable, I'm fairly certain that Hinduism is inherently incompatible with Judeo-Christian-Islamic monotheism as they embrace completely different perceptions not just of deities, but of Reality itself.

People are very fond of drawing 'parallels' between religions. It's rarely evidence of anything more than the great religions adopting much the same codes of morality, not because they were dictated by God or gods but simply because they were and are the best way for people to best get along and flourish . I have seen the case presented that Jesus was in fact heavily influenced by Buddhist teachings.. and consider that to be complete nonsense as well.