Sir, could you tell me if there is a link between Ibrahim-ul-Islam and Brahma in the Hindu traditions? Some people say there is. You know, in this, in the summit of religious history, when I say summit, I mean at the sources where things meet, not in the modern terms. In the summit of religious history, many common truths have got mingled and you see them appear in different nations and among different people and you recognize the common color and common texture of those things.
For instance, the concept of cow worship among the Jews and the concept of cow worship among the Hindus, Ibraham and Brahmo or Ram or Ibram, instead of Brahma, you could also say it may be the Ram. So Ram, in fact, was the law-bringer prophet and Krishna came after him on his Sharia. So Ibrahim’s time, to my opinion, is closer to the time of Ram. So it could be, Brahmo is supposed to be a god, but Ram is supposed to be a prophet of God. I mean, his picture, as it’s painted by Hindus, is closer to the prophethood than of Godhood.
So that is a possibility that some faith traveled from the Middle Eastern parts where Ibrahim lived into the jungles of India and got rooted there and the stories of Ibrahim got referred to a new personality which was created in his image and in his name and supposed to be the personality of an Indian prophet. I mean, it’s easy to say that, but it’s very difficult to prove because there are other things said about Ram which have no relationship whatsoever with Ibrahim. His life story, the rest of it, is so many things, the points of differences are overwhelmingly more.
So you can’t say that there was no Ram at all. Maybe the similarity between the names is just a casual chance, but the fundamental point to be noted is the similarity of the teachings at the summit, at the roots. And this is a principle with which the Holy Qur’an lays special stress upon. Not as the scholar of history would say, but in a different way altogether. Even to a historian, if you find similarities between two distant people in their teachings, in the fundamentals, he would begin to trace the channels which conveyed one thought to the other or vice versa.
But the Holy Qur’an claims that Allah directly reveals the fundamental truths to all the people of the earth at different times of their history and the fundamental truths remain the same. And also the fundamental opposition and style and the deviation from the truth and the worship of false imaginary gods, that also remains the same in style, in texture, in all these things. So it’s not necessary for these things to flow from one country to another. Revelation flows directly from Allah because he’s the common source. So if a truth is found in India and also the similar truth is found in China and Iran and Arabia, a historian would search for the common linkage between the two.
A follower of the Holy Qur’an, believer of God would say he’s the source. So he should have said it to everybody in the same way. So this is the reason of their common features. And the opposition and the phenomena of a decadent society and the worship of false gods, that’s also common everywhere.
Animals are being worshipped everywhere and cow being a very useful animal, very beneficial animal, should have been worshipped by ignorant people. So if it happens, it happens because of its character, not because the Jews sent all these traditions to the Indians. Now you understand? Yes. Shukran.
