In the previous post when i mentioned that according to the research of some muslim scholars, it is found that Buddha may be the person mentioned in the Final Testament, Quran as Dhul Kifl ... out of this, one visitor of my blog exclaimed, how can a Buddhist be considered as messenger of God. It triggered a thought in me which i would love to elaborate here.
It is said in the Final Testament To every people (was sent) a messenger (Quran 010:047). Now sometime we narrow down the meaning of religion and messenger. All spiritual leaders or messengers were social reformer than anything else. Their work is what we namel religion. We often forget that view point.
If one read the life of all the great messengers, inspirational teachers one can see that they didn't start to preach a religion. They started with addressing some social problem. They all were great social reformer above all other identity.
Moses did that for the oppressed people of Israel. He wanted justice and freedom for his enslaved people in Egypt. Jesus protested against the corrupted Jewish priests who were destroying social justice and for this Jesus ultimately paid the price in the hand of the corrupted powerful. Muhammad protested the corrupted arab society and its injustices.
The time of Buddha was one such time of crisis in Indian society and civilization. People forgot morality, no philosophy concerning God was helping out. At that time he started meditation and thinking on the problem (Just as Muhammad started his retreat in mount Hera for meditation on the social problem of Arabia).
So from secular point of view, these great teachers didn't started any religion. The appreciator or companions or followers of the teachers actually formed the religion. Neither Buddha, nor Moses nor Muhammad started with religion. Religion was the name of the result of their work perhaps. Perhaps the concept of God (incase of Biblical Prophets and Muhammad) or our own Life (in case Buddha) was the best motivation for them, thats why their social reformation always resulted in some religion.
COMMENTS