“Many Islamic scholars say that Allah is mentioned in Vedas. Is it true?”
“Udayji, is it correct that Prophet Muhammad who founded Islam was the last Avatar of Vishnu, Kalki? A top Muslim scholar named Zakir Naik propagates so”
“Zakir Naik said that Bhavishya Purana mentions about Islam and Muhammad…”
“Uday sir, the essence of Vedas is formless God and that is what Islam propagates. Islam is validated by Vedas…” Much more similar type of letters, messages and queries from readers.
The answer is an emphatic big NO.
There is not even a single word that’s remotely resembles Allah. I have discussed about this to many Sanskrit scholars and Vedic pundits too. Allah is neither a Sanskrit word nor a word from any of Indian languages – so it can’t appear in Veda. Allah is a pure Arabic word.
Vedas have 193516 words (in four Vedas = Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva). There is no Allah anywhere among these words.
Vedas do not talk about any religion – not even about Hinduism. There is no Allah, Jehovah or Jesus in Vedas.
“So Allah is not mentioned anywhere in any Vedic scriptures?” a reader, Rohit Kumar, asked this question twice.
“Rohit, use simple logic. Vedas were composed 7000 years ago in Sanskrit. Quran is written approx. 1350 years ago in Arabic. So, how is it being possible to mention any such names in Vedas?”
“Oh, I didn’t think in that sense,” he said.
“Have you read Vedas, Puranas or any of 10,000 literature related to Vedic tradition?” I asked the questioner.
The answer was “NO”.
People like Zakir Naik are cocksure that 99.99% of Hindus did not read Vedas, Upanishads or any of our ancient scriptures. So it is easy for him to add/delete some words from here and there or mis-interpret or mis-quote or even mis-translate. And he also knows for sure that NO sensible Sanskrit scholars will come and argue with people like him.
“He has argued with few Gurus like Ravi Shankar, some Swamis (saints, sages, gurus) and won the argument…”Rohit said.
“That must be true. A Hindu Sanyasi is NOT required to study Vedas and Upanishads. He/She can choose any selfless service (yoga) – Karma, Bhakti, Raja, Dhyana etc. – to achieve emancipation or liberation and need NOT be a scholar. You can see thousands of Sanyasis (saints) wearing saffron in the Himalayan regions. Most of them are illiterates and do not even know Sanskrit. But, as part of our traditional culture we respect them, touch their feet seeking blessings. People like Amritanandamayi, Ravi Shankar, and Jaggi Vasudev etc are popular religious leaders, highly knowledgeable people but they DON’T claim as experts in Vedic literature. Nowhere it is said that a Hindu must read Vedas or any scriptures. But a Muslim MUST read and follow Quran.”
– Quran is most read book in the world after Bible – billions might have read it. In comparison, Vedas must have read by few hundred thousand people only. I don’t think 0.000001 % of world population even know about Vedas, let alone reading it.
“Udayji, what about the concept of Islam? Do Vedas and Upanishads talks about it?”
“NO way. There are fundamental differences: –
“So Allah is not mentioned anywhere in any Vedic scriptures?” a reader, Rohit Kumar, asked twice.
1. Islam is founded upon belief in God – Allah. Hinduism is founded upon Vedic and Dharmic science, and NOT God
2. Islam follows a personal God and sees the God as a separate entity. Sanatan Dharma says everything is God and there is no separate personal God (though you are free to believe so).
3. Islam is an Asthik (believers of God) philosophy. Our (all six) Dharsanas are Nastik (not based on any beliefs).
4. The most important point is, Islam believes in a creator. Allah is the creator. Hindu philosophy doesn’t talk about any separate creator. Instead Vedanta asks questions like if there is a creator, who created the creator? Upanishads proclaim everything in the universe as manifestation of cosmic energy – the creator (if any), created and the creation – everything is different forms of this energy.
5. Islam believes in one God – that is Allah and insists that people to follow the one God. Hinduism says you can believe in any of 33 crore Gods. And even if you do not believe in God, you still are a Hindu.
There is ABSOLUTELY nothing common in the foundation of both the religions. So how anything related to Islam can appear in any of Hindu scriptures?
“But Zakir Naik says Bhavishya Purana mentions about Muhammad. What about that?”Rohit asked again.
“Bhavishya Purana talks about Jesus Christ, Akbar, Sawai Jai Singh, Alha Udal, Tulsidas, Surdas, Guru Nanak, Shahjahan, Aurangzeb, Shivaji and even Queen Victoria and her Parliament. It even mentions about Kolkata city! Obviously, it is re-written till late 19th century. Bhavishya Purana radically changed during the period of Aurangaseb and Akbar. So it can’t be considered an authoritative religious scripture. It does not even come in category of evidence, when it comes to Hindu religion. It is at best a frivolous non-serious text.”
“What about Kalki Avatar? Zakir said Muhammed is Kalki Avatar!”
“I don’t know if he said so. If yes, I do not understand how Muslims could tolerate Zakir Naik for insulting their Prophet and Quran. Kalki is born with four hands! Did Muhammad have four hands? He is born in a village by name Sambhala (somewhere in Nepal or India) and not in the Middle East. Shambala is accessible only to accomplished yogis and Siddha purushas. His parents will be Brahmins (=Sattvik Vegetarians) of names Vishnuyasha (means God’s glory) and Sumati (means the pious and pure thinking one). Kalki married to the daughter of the King of Simhala Desam (Sri Lanka), Padmawati. Muhammad had 11 wives, but none in the name of Padmawati. Kalki worshipped Shiva to get a Sword. Did Muhammad do like that?” (Incidentally, Kalki is a Tamil word. The Sanskrit name for Kalki is Ghadgi = sword-bearer)
“What is the purpose of Kalki avatar, Udayji?”
“The purpose of his avatar is to destroy the wicked people or Mlechha (outer barbarians of whatever race or colour or non-Vedic people from foreign land) people completely. By cleaning the earth He has to establish Dharma and the Satyayuga will start again.”
“Hmmm. But Zakir has been propagating Bhavishya Purana”
“Hindus must appreciate him then. Bhavishya Purana upholds worship of different idols, avoidance of meat, celibacy, shraadh, prohibition of marriage among close relatives, agnihotra, holy places, cow protection etc. Let him propagate that.”
“So the Prophet is not Avatar?”
“The Prophet Mohammed was Allah’s Prophet. Islam believes that he is the last messenger of God. As per Mohammed there is no God but Allah. Even Jesus, Abraham were Prophets not Gods. As per Hindu scriptures, Kalki is not a messenger of God. He is the incarnate of God himself. So if he was Kalki Avatar- he would be God himself but he would be contradicting himself saying Allah is the Only God and Mohammed is his Prophet. So by calling Prophet Muhammad an avatar, you elevate him as god because as per Hinduism, all avatars of Lord Vishnu are gods. This is against the teachings of Islam. Hence Prophet Muhammad is not Kalki avatar. In fact, devoted Muslims must answer why Zakir was insulting their Prophet.”
“But many scholars say the concept of Vedic God is similar to that of Allah…”
“Which concept of God? There are hundreds of concepts in Hindu literature or school of thoughts those talks about God. Vedic concept of God is different from that of Upanishads. Puranic concept is still different from others. Even Dwaita and Adwaita concepts are different. There are many sects among Hinduism – Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakteya, Smarta etc. Each sect has different God concepts. There could be thousands of concepts – so it is natural that some similarities can be seen here and there…”
“In comparison, which concept of God is better?”
“That is a personal selection. The concept of God is essentially a human creation. It was derived from human imagination. According to me, a person should be free to choose his/her concept. You can choose any concept that you like.”
“I will reframe the question is different format. Udayji, what concept of God you follow?”
“I follow many concepts. I pray to many Gods. My favourite Gods are Vishnu, Hanuman, Narasimha, Shiva, Ganesha, Durga…the list is endless. I want to see the presence of divine in each and everything, that’s why my list becomes endless…So, I don’t have a problem in accepting any form of God.”
But Gods and religions will exist ONLY if humans live in this planet – animals and plants do not know about such concepts and they don’t have religions.
So, let’s give priority to humanism, non-discrimination and inclusiveness. Our blood doesn’t know the difference between those Gods. Only our mind does. And mind is a creation of inputs and conditioning. Let’s move beyond mind and be with the divine, rather than fighting for different concepts. Our ancestors told us to follow Varna Dharma, not religions and castes.
By
Udaylal Pai
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