Generally, the world religions have been divided into two categories: (1) theistic religions and (2) atheistic religions. Again, the theistic religions (those believing in the existence of god) have been put into two groups: (1) mono-theistic (believing in only one god) and (2) poly-theistic (believing in more than one god).
Budhism is the world’s first and very ancient atheistic (non-belief in the existence of god) missionary religion. Islam, on the contrary, is a monotheistic religion founded by Prophet Mohammed in the 5th century AD.
Islam & Budhism are same: On the face value Buddhism and Islam appear to be contradictory to each other because the Budha has not claimed any prophetic position for himself. Secondly, the Budha’s non-belief in god and Prophet Mohammed’s strong belief in Allah also seem to put these two religions on a paradoxical level. Though overtly the paradox works prominently, but deep down on the covert philosophical level, the contradiction appears melting down. As we are habituated with seeing only the prominent projections, we generally seem to overlook the deep philosophical undercurrents that create a semblance between these two world religions.
Cosmic energy: In the Budhist doctrine the concept of Naam-Rupa acquires a prominent position. In the Budhist cosmology the universe is the manifestation of the play of Naam-Rupa, the Pali expression used by the Budha for psycho-physical energy or what in the scientific parlance is called cosmic energy. According to the Budhist philosophy Naam-Rupa or cosmic energy governs the universe. But surprisingly the cosmic energy is formless and invisible. But again astonishingly, the visibility of this formless cosmic energy is experienced by human beings through the forms of living and non-living things. The word Naam implies the psychic entity and the term Rupa implies the physical form or material entity. The forms appear and disappear but the cosmic energy is eternally present in the cosmos constantly governing destroying, creating and organising. It neither shirnks nor expands but it constantly changes which brings dynamism, rhythm and order in nature.
Man has no control on nature: But man, with his arrogant intellect and hollow pride often pretends to control nature with the help of science and technology which is impossible because man forgets that he is just a fraction of the giant intelligence prevalent in the cosmos and governed by the Naam-Rupa.
The Islamic concept of Allah, though related with monotheism, appears similar to Budha’s Naam- Rupa.
Allah in Islam, apart from all-pervading is omnipotent, omni-present and omniscient which means all powerful, present everywhere and knowing everything. Allah is the creator of the universe. Nothing happens without his will. He is the cause, he is the effect of every thing. That is how the Quran and Islam’s followers believe unflinchingly.
But one thing which is worth marking about Allah is such a supreme force is formless, not having an image.
But the theistic religions are replete with the images of gods and goddesses giving birth to polytheism.
Even the image of Prophet Mohammed is not available. This is a unique feature of Allah and Islam.
But if we ask a philosophical question as to what is formless in the universe that governs the universe, our answer will have to be the cosmic energy or the cosmic power. Such a supreme power Allah is formless and still gives birth to different forms-living and non- living. The Islamic Allah has been attributed in Koran all the psycho-physical and even the transcendental functions. The Islamic concept of soul (Ruh) also emanates from this psycho-physical attribute.
Moral law: Because of the belief in supreme cosmic power, which the Budha has called Naam-Rupa and Prophet Mohamed has called Allah, there appears to be another semblance operating on the level of Budhist ethics and Islamic ethics.
The main feature of Budhist and Islamic ethics is man’s intellectual arrogance should not and cannot overpower the supreme cosmic power of which man’s intellect is like a drop in the vast ocean of psychic cosmic power and, therefore, man should remain subdued and surrender himself to the giant intelligence that operates in the cosmos. The Budha has pointed out that Naam-Rupa follows a moral sequence in the universe. Therefore, man on the earth is duty bound to follow the moral law which respects the moral sequence. If man, because of his arrogance, breaks the moral law, the moral sequence gets affected resulting in the upheaval taking place in the form of natural disasters.
Common thread: The Islamic prohibition of man from disobeying and disrespecting Allah also fixes man’s inferior position and warns about Allah’s invoking anger if the Islamic morality is defied.
In short, both Budhism and Islam-though appearing paradoxical due to their atheistic and theistic attributes prima facie- have a common thread running in them concerned with the unconquerability of cosmic power by man so that the millennium of mankind remains intact.
Budhism and Islam put a rider to man’s investigative intellect and warn him against the uncurbed and wayward journey in science and technology which is prone to disturb the moral sequence in the cosmos. Of course, more research is needed in this respect which will unfold the commonalities in different faiths for the betterment of mankind.
