Prophet Dhul-Kifl [also known as Prophet Gautam Buddha] (Peace Be Upon Him) in The Glorious Quran

Abstract

The coexistence of Islam with Buddhism took place several centuries ago. Both religions originated from monotheist sources and Muslim scholars were the first to compare Islam with Buddhism. There are several verses (Surahs) in The Glorious Quran which indicates a strong similarity of Buddhist teaching with Islamic teaching. Muslims scholars like Muhammad Hamidullah (1974)^[1] supported by Hamza Yusuf (2010)^[1], Reza Kazemi (2010)^[1], Imtiyaz Yusuf (2003)^[1], and al-Qasimi (2002)^[1] all have stated that Prophet Gautam Buddha (Peace Be Upon Him) was Prophet Dhul-Kifl in The Glorious Quran. The justification is that Dhul-Kifl may stand for Prophet Gautam Buddha (Peace Be Upon Him) because he was born in Lumbini and moved to Kapilavastu. Dhul-Kifl means “one from Kifl”, whereas Kapilavastu means “one from Kapila” (vastu meaning “one from”). In Arabic there is no ‘f’ sound and therefore the Arabs used ‘p’ sound. Since The Glorious Quran is accurate in pronunciations, the Arabs doing trading at the time of Prophet Gautam Buddha (Peace Be Upon Him) through the ancient silk route may have called Kapilavastu, Dhul-Kifl, which changed to Dhul-Kifli when applying it to a person. In other words, Kapilavastu equals Dhul-Kifl (both meaning exactly the same thing: “the one from Kilf or Kapila”), where Prophet Gautam Buddha (Peace Be Upon Him) is named after the place, which is not too uncommon in Arabic.”^[1]