What place does Krishna have from an Islamic point of view?

According to the Holy Qur’an God sent messengers to every people, and Krishna (as) fits this picture perfectly: as a true and great prophet of God for the people of India, not as God Himself.

The Holy Qur’an paints a wide picture. There was no people anywhere on earth and no time in history to which God did not send His messengers. They brought glad tidings and warned of the consequences of wrong conduct. A religion that limits God’s guidance to one people alone cannot come from the Lord of all the worlds.

Krishna (as) fits perfectly into this picture. Muslims who follow the Holy Qur’an see him as a true prophet of God of high rank, who showed the people of India the way to God. The Bhagavad Gita, too, contains clear statements about the one God.

At the same time the Holy Qur’an describes a tendency that repeats itself everywhere. First people reject a messenger of God. Later his followers raise him step by step from a man to a god. This happened with Jesus (as), whom many regard as God’s literal son, and it seems to have happened with Krishna (as) as well. Statements that he is the creator, sustainer and destroyer of all beings belong, in the Islamic understanding, to this later development.

Images such as four arms need not be taken literally either. They can express qualities and powers. The Holy Qur’an also speaks in images, for instance of angels with two, three and four wings.

So Hindus and Muslims stand closer to one another than many think. In the Islamic view, both religions come from the same source: the one God who has spoken to every people.