How does Islam view Hinduism and its origin?

According to the Holy Qur’an, God sent messengers to every people, India included. Hinduism goes back to such messengers who were later raised to the rank of gods, and many of its images are misunderstood symbols of spiritual truths.

The Holy Qur’an teaches that God has withheld His guidance from no people. Messengers of God appeared all over the world, and their story almost always follows the same pattern. First they are rejected and persecuted, and people try to wipe them and their followers out. Yet though they begin alone and weak, they prevail.

Then a second phase begins. Once a messenger is accepted, his rank is raised step by step until he is no longer seen as a human being but as a superhuman being or even as a god. At first he was held to be less than a man, later more than a man. In this way people save their pride, for they did not bow before an ordinary man. From an Islamic point of view, the same thing happened in India.

Many images in Hinduism can be read in this light as misunderstood symbols. Krishna is shown as a herdsman of cows, just as the prophets of Israel are described as shepherds of sheep. In India the cow held the place that the sheep held in the Middle East. The herdswomen around him stand for his disciples, who accepted his message and cared for the people.

The flute has a meaning too. It does not sound by itself; only the breath of the one who plays it brings forth music. In the same way a messenger says that it is not he who speaks, but God through him. The wings stand for qualities such as kindness and protection, just as the third verse above speaks of wings figuratively. The four hands suggest that within a messenger, alongside human abilities, spiritual powers have grown.

Understood in this way, Hinduism has the same origin as every revealed religion. What has changed is not the message, but the understanding of its language.