Buddhism and fallacies of idol worship 
The destruction of Buddha statues in Bamiyan, (Afghanistan) by Taleban hasprompted a worldwide discussion on this subject. It is common knowledge thathaving idols of religious significance would eventually lead to the practice of idolworshipping. Even idols without any religious importance, with the passage of time,have proven to become objects of worship. Does this worship and veneration ofidols, created by humans, conform to human intellect and reasoning? This is thebasic theme of this discussion and as the subject was initiated due to the recentdestruction of Buddha statues, we would like to have a brief discussion aboutBuddhism, particularly about the authenticity of it's scriptures, on which the presentday Buddhism is built upon. Your active participation with suggestions and evencorrections, if there were any, would be highly appreciated. Our fervent hope is thatan unprejudiced and unbiased approach to this discussion, would undoubtedlyresult in a very constructive outcome
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Even though we live in the 21
st
century, the period of knowledge and science, thephenomenon of idol worshipping still persists in many of the nations of the world.The Qur'an, the book of guidance for the entire mankind, revealed fourteen centuriesago, alerts us to the fallacy involved in worshipping idols. The story of ProphetIbrahim, peace be upon him, who tried to demonstrate his people how illogical suchan act of ignorance is, has been narrated in the Qu'ran
 And recite to them the story of Ibrahim. When he said to his father and his people"What do you worship?" They said: "We worship idols and to them we are ever devoted" He said: " Do they hear you, when you call on (them)? Or do they benefit you or do they harm (you)?" They said: "(Nay) But we found our fathers doing so"(Holy Qur'an 26:69-74
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Ibrahim left his father's house and abandoned his people and shunned what theyworshipped. He decided to do something about his people's state of belief, but didnot reveal it to anyone. He knew that there was going to be a great celebration on theother bank of the river, which would be attended by all the people. Ibrahim waiteduntil the city was empty, then came out cautiously directing his steps towards thetemple. He went there carrying a sharp ax. He looked at the stone and woodenstatues and at the food laid in front of them as offerings (dana). He approached one
 
of the statues and asked "The food in front of you is getting cold. Why don't youeat?" The statue kept silent and rigid. Ibrahim asked the other statues around him
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Will you not eat (of the offerings before you)?' (Holy Qur'an 37 : 91
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He was mocking them for he knew they would not eat. He once again asked them
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What is the matter with you that you speak not?' (Holy Qur'an 37 : 92
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He then raised his ax and started smashing the false deities worshipped by thepeople and by this he wanted to show his people a practical proof of theirfoolishness in worshipping something other than Allah, the One True God. Hedestroyed them all except one, on whose neck he hung the ax. When the peoplereturned, they were shocked to see their deities smashed to pieces, lying scattered allover the temple. They began to guess who had done that to their idols, and Ibrahim'sname came to their minds
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They said: "Who has done this to our gods? He must indeed be one of the wrong doers
 ."
They said: "We heard a young man talking against them, who is called Ibrahim
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They said: "Then bring him before the eyes of the people, that they may testify
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They said: "Are you the one who has done this to our gods, O Ibrahim
"?
 Ibrahim said: "Nay, this one, biggest of them (idols) did it. Ask them if they canspeak
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So they turned to themselves and said: "You are the wrong doer" Then they turned to themselves( their first thought and said): "Indeed you (Ibrahim) know well that these (idols) speak not 
"!
 Ibrahim said: " Do you then worship besides Allah, things that can neither profit you, nor harm you. Fie upon you, and upon that you worship besides Allah! Haveyou then no sense?" (Holy Qur'an 21: 59-67 
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The story of Prophet Ibrahim and his continuous struggle against idol worship andall other forms of polytheistic practices as well as his enormous sacrifices to establishthe worship of Allah amongst mankind needs lot more pages to explain. Thefollowing is the explanation found in the “Fundamentals of Tawheed” by Dr.A.A.B.Philips, how the idol worship found it’s way amongst the mankind
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Prophet Mohammed (Peace and Blessings be upon him) described in vivid detailexactly how Polytheism (Shirk) found its way among mankind after long periods ofMonotheism (Tawheed), which began with Prophet Adam. The Prophet’scompanions related the concept to us in their explanation of Verse 23 of ChapterNooh (Noah), where in Allah describes the reaction of Prophet Nooh’s people whenhe invited them to the worship of Allah (only One True God
.)
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They said to each other:`Do not leave your gods! Do not give up Wadd and Suwaanor Yaghooth, Yaooq and Nasr’” Qur’an 71: 23
The Prophet's companion Ibn Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him) said thefollowing in his commentary on this Qur’anic verse: “These were idols of Nooh’snation which in time ended up among the Arabs. These idols were named after somerighteous men among Nooh’s people. When these righteous men died Satan inspiredthe people to make statues of them named after them, in remembrance of them.These statues were placed in their favorite meeting places as reminders ofrighteousness and no one of that generation worshipped them. However, when thatgeneration died off and the purpose of the statues was forgotten, Satan came to theirdescendants and told them that their predecessors used to worship the statuesbecause it was due to them that it rained down from the sky. The descendants werefooled and began to worship them as idols. The following generations continued toworship them
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The Tafseer (explanation) of the verse given by these illustrious companions of theProphet (peace be upon him) paints a clear picture of the process by which idolatryand polytheism found its way into the pure monotheistic system of beliefs held byour ancestors. It confirms the degeneration pattern, identifies the historical origin ofancestor worship and it also explains why Islam is so firmly opposed to thedepiction of human and animal forms in statues or paintings. The prohibition ofimages can also be found among Ten Commandments given to Prophet Moses andrecorded in the Old Testament: “You shall not make for yourself a graven image orlikeness of anything that is in the heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or thatis in the water under the earth” Exodus 20:4Now, you will be able to see some satanic confusion repeated. Early followers ofProphet Jesus maintained this attitude until an infusion of Greco-Roman thoughtthoroughly distorted Prophet Jesus’ monotheistic teachings. This change produced a