Cave paintings from 1500-2000BC at Bhimbetka, a UNESCO World Heritage centre.

Despite its idols and cultural rituals, Hinduism can be considered a monotheistic faith at heart. Dhulfiqar Ali considers its relationship with Islam.

According to hadith, it was some 15,000 years ago that Adam first set foot on Earth. Legend has it that his descent from the heavens was on the paradise of Serendip — modern day Sri Lanka. Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka now marks a spot sacred to Hindus, Christians and Buddhists alike, exemplifying the fusion of culture, religion and myth that the Indian Subcontinent is.

The myth of Adam’s origin may have some truth to it, since it is along the plains of the Ganges where we find evidence of early man and his wanderings. The Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh, India — a UNSECO’s world heritage site — contain drawings and carvings at least 12,000 years old.

Archaeological evidence from more than 200,000 years ago places the Homo erectus (ancestors of the Homo sapiens), who migrated from Africa, in the sacred Narmada valley in Madhya Pradesh. Hadith from Imam Ali (as) and Imam As-Sadiq (as) about Adam and his origins seem to support this theory, and explain the humanoid ‘nas-naas’ (Homo erectus) predating the ‘naas’ (Homo sapien). Is Indian Adam the missing link?

India, the birth place of mankind, is also the origin of the first monotheistic faith. The most remarkable piece of evidence to suggest that India or Hindustan was a place where a single, infinite and ever-lasting deity was worshiped is the Hindu scripture itself. The Vedas (which means knowledge in Sanskrit) is the oldest sacred text of Hinduism and dates back to 2000 BC. The Vedas speaks of the concept of ‘Brahman’ — the ultimate, unchanging, immanent, transcendental cosmic reality, an interpretation of God similar to the Quranic Allah (swt). Verses from the Brahma Sutra Hindu scripture are reminiscent of Surah Al-Ikhlas:

“There is only one God, not the second; not at all, not at all, not in the least bit.”

“There is no likeness of Him.” [Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:19]

The Vedas is also replete with stories of prophets including an individual similar to the Quranic Nuh called ‘Manu’ or ‘Satyavrata’ — the one with the oath of truth. Manu had great wisdom, was devoted to virtue and is reported by the Vedas to be the saviour of humanity from a global flood. The creator god in Hinduism — ‘Brahma’ — translates as ‘Ibrahim’ in Arabic and the Brahmins, the upper caste Hindus can be regarded as the “seyeds” of Hinduism. The story of Ibrahim (as) as an idol-breaker and traveller who reformed society by breaking the literal and metaphorical idols resonates closely with the concept of Brahma.

The Veda is the oldest sacred text of Hinduism and dates back to 2000BC.

Finally and perhaps most significantly to Muslims, the Puranas – a group of old, important Hindu texts predict: “A foreign spiritual teacher will appear with his companions. His name will be Mahamad.” In describing the companions of “Mahamad” the Vedas speaks of “a man with a two edged sword” and also the mass murder of his progeny — descriptions that bear a close resemblance to Imam Ali (as) and Karbala.

Critics would discard such explanations as mere abstraction and label it as fantasy designed to Islamicise the Hindu texts. Indeed, it is difficult to argue otherwise if modern practice of Hinduism is considered, with its worship of the cow, idols and other objects that seem a reflection of anything but monotheism.

However, the reality is that Hindus regard the objects, rituals and images of their worship not as gods, but simply as external intercessors or signs of a divine Being — the ever-present Brahman who has no statue to represent him, because he simply “is”.

Brahman is singular and one in existence, the other ‘gods’ being a manifestation of the single Brahman. He is in everything, not separate from anything, and impossible to view. He exists without question or comprehensible explanation — an idea that crops up often in the Munajaat (supplication) of Imam Ali (as), the Illuminati philosophy of Shurawardi and ifran (mysticism) of Ibn Arabi

The Hindu Vedas can be regarded as the pioneering text of negative theology, where God’s qualities can only be established through a negation of what He is obviously not — similar to the proclamation of La ilaha illul lah (There is no god except Allah).

The Quran testifies that there is no question of Allah (swt) creating a nation and then not sending it guidance, even if it is the awakening of the nabi within – the alternative does not befit the justice of an All-Just Being. In this spirit it can be assumed that prophets of Allah (swt) may have come to India and Hinduism was once (and perhaps still is), a monotheistic faith. Granted one that has been contaminated and distorted with culture and myth, where rituals have become more important than the messages and changes it was supposed to bring. Many would argue this is a situation all too common today within Islam itself.

The Quran describes the Jews, Sabians and Christians as people of the book according them certain rights, such as the right to marry. The same station is not bestowed to the followers of the Vedas, despite the monotheistic leitmotif of these ancient texts. The reasons cited are primarily that the deviation from “monotheism” and the contamination of religion with culture has reached such an extent that any distillation of the two is not possible, and whatever truth there was in the teachings of the Vedas has been lost with the tides of time.

Although the Quran and Prophet do not explicitly recognise Hindus as ahlul-kitab (people of the monotheistic “books”), a lack of recognition does not equate to denial. It is argued that the Quran only refers to the Abrahamic faiths because they were known to the people of the Arabian Peninsula — there was little or no direct contact with Hindus at the time.

Indeed the first post-Islamic Arab contact with India was either through Imam As-Sajjad (as) whose wife and mother of Zaid, was from Sindh, or through Abdullah Ghazi, the great grandson of Imam Al-Hassan (as), who was chased off to India around 712AD by Mohammed Ibn Qasim, the son in-law of Hajjaj bin Yousaf, butcher of the Shia Muslims of Baghdad. Thereafter, the vast lands and estates of India embraced generation upon generation of Arab sayeds and Shias.

India and its multiplicity, diversity and acceptance became the perfect refuge for the oppressed Shia Muslims of Arabia.

Considering the theological evidence available an urgent re-assessment of Hinduism is required within the folds of Islam. And Hindus, if not as believers of a nameless transcendent, immanent and infinite being, should be embraced as bearers of the human spirit.