How does Islam view Buddhism, and Hinduism with its many deities?

Islam sees a divine origin in both religions. Buddha did not deny God, and behind the many deities of Hinduism, too, there originally stood the message of messengers who spoke the same language as all prophets.

Islam recognises Jesus (as), Moses (as), Abraham (as) and the prophets of the Bible. But its view reaches further. The Holy Qur’an says that no people has been left without a messenger. So with every great religion a Muslim first asks whether a messenger of God stood at its beginning.

With Buddhism a misunderstanding persisted for a long time. Western scholars who could not read the ancient languages and texts themselves described Buddha as a teacher without God. Later, researchers studied the original sources more closely, the ancient Buddhist scriptures and the inscriptions on rocks and stupas. There a different picture emerges. Buddha believed in God, in a life after death, and in good and evil. He did not turn against God but against the many gods of the Brahmins of his time.

It is similar with Hinduism. Whoever goes back to the sources finds that its founders used almost the same terms as other prophets, and that these terms too were later misunderstood. Jesus (as) speaks of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Krishna speaks of cows and herdswomen, because in India the cow held the place that the sheep held in the Middle East. Jesus (as) says that he does not speak of himself. Krishna holds a flute that only sounds when someone breathes into it. In both cases the meaning is that God speaks through His messenger.

For Islam this comes as no surprise. Religion has a universal character. If there is only one God, then He has spoken to all people, and traces of His message can be found everywhere, even where they were later covered over.