A Muslim’s Reflections on Saddharamapundariksutra-The Lotus Sutra

Abstract

This paper seeks to introduce the general reader to the history of Muslim-Buddhist dialogue, reviewing early instances of interreligious conversation between the two traditions, while also offering a speculative reflection on the Lotus Sutra from an Islamic perspective and highlighting some points of contact between the spirituality of this Buddhist text and the overarching transformative vision of the Qur’an. The author questions the conventional understanding that Islam effectively ignores all religions apart from Judaism and Christianity, noting, for instance, that according to Muhammad Assad, the term kafir -ordinarily translated as “infidel”-actually refers to anyone rejecting spiritual truth, and as such it could not be automatically applied to anyone outside the three Abrahamic traditions.