Islam and Quran is only a Concept
Reader comment on item: [The Issue of Compulsion in Religion:] Islam is What Its Followers Make of It
in response to reader comment: A True Muslim

Submitted by Rama (United Arab Emirates), Oct 2, 2006 at 09:26

I refer to the recent debate with Dr.Naik who is also a well learned man from Islamic literature. I have seen him on television many occassion abusing Hindu Dharma and also he referred on many occassion critizing Hindu way of prayers. I felt little annoyed and thought to myself that someone who is well learned about Hindu Dharma to have a debate and explain Dr.Naik and open his safety vault of knowledge and pour in correct information about Hindu Dharma.

The opportunity came when Sri Sri was to explain the real meaning of HINDU DHARMA and specially Sanathana Dharma. First of all we must all understand that HINDU religion was a name given only for recognition with other religion. Before the birth of various religion like Buddhism, Sikkisim, Judaisim, Christianity, Islam etc there was only one method of living and practicising life called by its name Sanathana Dharma and its also called PURE INTELLEGANCE or PURUSHA /BRAHMA/ etc there is no particular date of birth of Sanathana Dharma. Whereas all other religion has a era that is date of birth. Islam came year 1500 , christianity came year 2000 etc. The highest truth is anything that has begining has an end and anything that takes birth has to die. Whereas SANATHANA DHARMA never born there is no date of birth and no body can put an era to it..so this SANATHANA DHARMA will never die. As explained in ISA VASYAM UPANISHAD..

Verse 4, 5, and 8 describe the nature of Self as:

Self is One, unmoving, and faster than the mind. The senses cannot overtake It, since It is already there when we try to reach it. Only all-pervasive, stationary, and infinite entity (Absolute Consciousness) can qualify to become the Self. Such Self can be described as, "That moves and that does not move; that is far off and that is very near; that is inside all this and that is also outside all this." That has no begining and that has no end"

Kaaba a Hindu Temple?
[Note: A recent archeological find in Kuwait unearthed a gold-plated
statue of the Hindu deity Ganesh. A Muslim resident of Kuwait requested
historical research material that can help explain the connection
between Hindu civilisation and Arabia.]

Was the Kaaba Originally a Hindu Temple?
By P.N. Oak (Historian)

Glancing through some research material recently, I was pleasantly
surprised to come across a reference to a king Vikramaditya inscription
found in the Kaaba in Mecca proving beyond doubt that the Arabian
Peninsula formed a part of his Indian Empire.

The text of the crucial Vikramaditya inscription, found inscribed on a
gold dish hung inside the Kaaba shrine in Mecca, is found recorded on
page 315 of a volume known as 'Sayar-ul-Okul' treasured in the
Makhtab-e-Sultania library in Istanbul, Turkey. Rendered in free
English the inscription says:

"Fortunate are those who were born (and lived) during king Vikram's
reign. He was a noble, generous dutiful ruler, devoted to the welfare
of his subjects. But at that time we Arabs, oblivious of God, were lost
in sensual pleasures. Plotting and torture were rampant. The darkness
of ignorance had enveloped our country. Like the lamb struggling for
her life in the cruel paws of a wolf we Arabs were caught up in
ignorance. The entire country was enveloped in a darkness so intense as
on a new moon night. But the present dawn and pleasant sunshine of
education is the result of the favour of the noble king Vikramaditya
whose benevolent supervision did not lose sight of us- foreigners as we
were. He spread his sacred religion amongst us and sent scholars whose
brilliance shone like that of the sun from his country to ours. These
scholars and preceptors through whose benevolence we were once again
made cognisant of the presence of God, introduced to His sacred
existence and put on the road of Truth, had come to our country to
preach their religion and impart education at king Vikramaditya's
behest."

For those who would like to read the Arabic wording I reproduce it
hereunder in Roman script:

"Itrashaphai Santu Ibikramatul Phahalameen Karimun Yartapheeha
Wayosassaru Bihillahaya Samaini Ela Motakabberen Sihillaha Yuhee Quid
min howa Yapakhara phajjal asari nahone osirom bayjayhalem. Yundan
blabin Kajan blnaya khtoryaha sadunya kanateph netephi bejehalin
Atadari bilamasa- rateen phakef tasabuhu kaunnieja majekaralhada
walador. As hmiman burukankad toluho watastaru hihila Yakajibaymana
balay kulk amarena phaneya jaunabilamary Bikramatum".

(Page 315 Sayar-ul-okul).

[Note: The title 'Saya-ul-okul' signifies memorable words.]

A careful analysis of the above inscription enables us to draw the
following conclusions:

That the ancient Indian empires may have extended up to the eastern
boundaries of Arabia until Vikramaditya and that it was he who for the
first time conquered Arabia. Because the inscription says that king
Vikram who dispelled the darkness of ignorance from Arabia.
That, whatever their earlier faith, King Vikrama's preachers had
succeeded in spreading the Vedic (based on the Vedas, the Hindu sacred
scriptures)) way of life in Arabia.
That the knowledge of Indian arts and sciences was imparted by Indians
to the Arabs directly by founding schools, academies and cultural
centres. The belief, therefore, that visiting Arabs conveyed that
knowledge to their own lands through their own indefatigable efforts
and scholarship is unfounded.
An ancillary conclusion could be that the so-called Kutub Minar (in
Delhi, India) could well be king Vikramadiya's tower commemorating
his conquest of Arabia. This conclusion is strengthened by two
pointers. Firstly, the inscription on the iron pillar near the
so-called Kutub Minar refers to the marriage of the victorious king
Vikramaditya to the princess of Balhika. This Balhika is none other
than the Balkh region in West Asia. It could be that Arabia was
wrestled by king Vikramaditya from the ruler of Balkh who concluded a
treaty by giving his daughter in marriage to the victor. Secondly, the
township adjoining the so called Kutub Minar is named Mehrauli after
Mihira who was the renowned astronomer-mathematician of king Vikram's
court. Mehrauli is the corrupt form of Sanskrit 'Mihira-Awali'
signifying a row of houses raised for Mihira and his helpers and
assistants working on astronomical observations made from the tower.

Having seen the far reaching and history shaking implications of the
Arabic inscription concerning king Vikrama, we shall now piece together
the story of its find. How it came to be recorded and hung in the Kaaba
in Mecca. What are the other proofs reinforcing the belief that Arabs
were once followers of the Indian Vedic way of life and that
tranquillity and education were ushered into Arabia by king
Vikramaditya's scholars, educationists from an uneasy period of
"ignorance and turmoil" mentioned in the inscription.

In Istanbul, Turkey, there is a famous library called
Makhatab-e-Sultania, which is reputed to have the largest collection of
ancient West Asian literature. In the Arabic section of that library is
an anthology of ancient Arabic poetry. That anthology was compiled from
an earlier work in A.D. 1742 under the orders of the Turkish ruler
Sultan Salim.

The pages of that volume are of Hareer - a kind of silk used for
writing on. Each page has a decorative gilded border. That anthology is
known as Sayar-ul-Okul. It is divided into three parts. The first part
contains biographic details and the poetic compositions of pre-Islamic
Arabian poets. The second part embodies accounts and verses of poets of
the period beginning just after prophet Mohammad's times, up to the
end of the Banee-Um-Mayya dynasty. The third part deals with later
poets up to the end of Khalif Harun-al-Rashid's times.

Abu Amir Asamai, an Arabian bard who was the poet Laureate of
Harun-al-Rashid's court, has compiled and edited the anthology.

The first modern edition of 'Sayar-ul-Okul' was printed and
published in Berlin in 1864. A subsequent edition is the one published
in Beirut in 1932.

The collection is regarded as the most important and authoritative
anthology of ancient Arabic poetry. It throws considerable light on the
social life, customs, manners and entertainment modes of ancient
Arabia. The book also contains an elaborate description of the ancient
shrine of Mecca, the town and the annual fair known as OKAJ which used
to be held every year around the Kaaba temple in Mecca. This should
convince readers that the annual haj of the Muslims to the Kaaba is of
earlier pre-Islamic congregation.

But the OKAJ fair was far from a carnival. It provided a forum for the
elite and the learned to discuss the social, religious, political,
literary and other aspects of the Vedic culture then pervading Arabia.
'Sayar-ul-Okul' asserts that the conclusion reached at those
discussions were widely respected throughout Arabia. Mecca, therefore,
followed the Varanasi tradition (of India) of providing a venue for
important discussions among the learned while the masses congregated
there for spiritual bliss. The principal shrines at both Varanasi in
India and at Mecca in Arvasthan (Arabia) were Siva temples. Even to
this day ancient Mahadev (Siva) emblems can be seen. It is the Shankara
(Siva) stone that Muslim pilgrims reverently touch and kiss in the
Kaaba.

Arabic tradition has lost trace of the founding of the Kaaba temple.
The discovery of the Vikramaditya inscription affords a clue. King
Vikramaditya is known for his great devotion to Lord Mahadev (Siva). At
Ujjain (India), the capital of Vikramaditya, exists the famous shrine
of Mahankal, i.e., of Lord Shankara (Siva) associated with
Vikramaditya. Since according to the Vikramaditya inscription he spread
the Vedic religion, who else but he could have founded the Kaaba temple
in Mecca?

A few miles away from Mecca is a big signboard which bars the entry of
any non-Muslim into the area. This is a reminder of the days when the
Kaaba was stormed and captured solely for the newly established faith
of Islam. The object in barring entry of non-Muslims was obviously to
prevent its recapture.

As the pilgrim proceeds towards Mecca he is asked to shave his head and
beard and to don special sacred attire that consists of two seamless
sheets of white cloth. One is to be worn round the waist and the other
over the shoulders. Both these rites are remnants of the old Vedic
practice of entering Hindu temples clean- and with holy seamless white
sheets.

The main shrine in Mecca, which houses the Siva emblem, is known as the
Kaaba. It is clothed in a black shroud. That custom also originates
from the days when it was thought necessary to discourage its recapture
by camouflaging it.

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Kaaba has 360 images.
Traditional accounts mention that one of the deities among the 360
destroyed when the place was stormed, was that of Saturn; another was
of the Moon and yet another was one called Allah. That shows that in
the Kaaba the Arabs worshipped the nine planets in pre-Islamic days. In
India the practice of 'Navagraha' puja, that is worship of the nine
planets, is still in vogue. Two of these nine are Saturn and Moon.

In India the crescent moon is always painted across the forehead of the
Siva symbol. Since that symbol was associated with the Siva emblem in
Kaaba it came to be grafted on the flag of Islam.

Another Hindu tradition associated with the Kaaba is that of the sacred
stream Ganga (sacred waters of the Ganges river). According to the
Hindu tradition Ganga is also inseparable from the Shiva emblem as the
crescent moon. Wherever there is a Siva emblem, Ganga must co-exist.
True to that association a sacred fount exists near the Kaaba. Its
water is held sacred because it has been traditionally regarded as
Ganga since pre-Islamic times (Zam-Zam water).

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