How do they regard the great figures of other religions, such as Krishna, Buddha, and Confucius?
It is quite obvious from the teachings of the Holy Quran that, as God sent Prophets to every nation, and quite a large number of them appeared all over the world, the ancient founders of these other religions too would have been Prophets and messengers of God. In fact, wherever there are people following a sacred scripture older than the Quran, their religious founders mentioned in those Books should be accepted by Muslims as true prophets of God. It has been suggested that Buddha is mentioned in the Holy Quran by the name DhulKifl, meaning man of Kifl, where Kifl is the Arabic form of the name of his birth-place Kapilvestu. But religions such as Christianity and Hinduism revere their great religious figures as ‘gods’ or incarnations of God. What does Islam say? According to Islam, all these righteous persons were mortal, human prophets of God, like the Holy Prophet Muhammad, having the same needs that every human being has. They all eventually died, as everyone must. There are several
