What Does Bamiyan Tell Us about Muslim Attitudes to Buddhism? Unpacking ‘Buddhist- Muslim Conflicts’ in Contemporary Asia
Issue: Vol 8 No. 3 (2014)
Journal: Religions of South Asia
Subject Areas: Religious Studies Buddhist Studies Islamic Studies
Abstract:
The article highlights through a case study of the Taliban’s destruction of the Buddha statues of Bamiyan in 2001, that there has been considerable diversity in Muslim attitudes towards Buddhism and Buddha statues, reflecting the variety of political and socio-economic contexts in which they were expressed. It argues that the Taliban’s destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan cannot be attributed exclusively to theological issues but also reflects political agenda regarding economic concerns.
Author: Kieko Obuse
References :
Abu-Nimer, Mohammed. 2008. ‘A Framework for Nonviolence and Peacebuilding in Islam.’ Muis Occasional Papers Series, Paper No. 6. Singapore: Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura.
AFP. 2001. ‘Lanka Moves to Save Buddhas.’ Buddhism Today (01-03-2001). http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/world/facts/023-buddhadestruction.htm (accessed 17 June 2008).
AP. 2001. ‘Lankan PM to Travel to Pak in Bid to Save Statues.’ Buddhism Today (09-03-2001). http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/world/facts/077-destruction.htm (accessed 17 June 2008).
Ahmad, Imad-ad-Dean. 2001. ‘The Iconoclasts of Afghanistan.’ Islam Online (12-03-2001). http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1156077783578&pagename=Zone-English-Muslim_Affairs%2FMAELayout (accessed 13 June 2010).
Al-Bīrūnī. 1888. Edward C. Sachau (trans.). Alberuni’s India: An Account of the Religion, Philosophy, Literature, Chronology, Astronomy, Customs, Laws and Astrology of India about AD 1030, vol. 1. London: Trübner.
Al-Hibri, Azizah Y. 2001. ‘Afghani Demolition of Ancient Religious Symbols.’ The Wisdom Fund (12-03-2001). http://www.twf.org/News/Y2001/0316-Bamiyan.html (accessed 17 June 2008).
Appleby, R. Scott. 2000. The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence and Reconciliation. Lanham, Boulder, New York and Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield.
Baig, Khalid. 2001a. ‘Statues, The Propaganda Machine, and The Ummah: The Day After.’ Albalagh (16-03-2001). http://www.themodernreligion.com/jihad/afghan/day-after.html (accessed 17 June 2008).
—2001b. ‘On Religious Tolerance.’ Albalagh (21-03-2001). http://www.albalagh.net/food_for_thought/tolerance.shtml (accessed 17 June 2008).
Beckwith, Christopher. 1987. The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Buddhist Defense League. 2013. https://www.facebook.com/BuddhistDefenceLeague/info (accessed 5 April 2013).
CNN. 2001. ‘Ruined Buddhas Shown Off by Taleban.’ (26-03-2001). http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/central/03/15/taleban.buddha/index.html (accessed 17 June 2008).
Coward, Harold, and Gordon S. Smith (eds.). 2004. Religion and Peacebuilding. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Denny, Frederick. M. 2004. ‘Islam and Peacebuilding: Continuities and Transitions.’ In Coward and Smith 2004: 129–46.
Eaton, Richard. 2000. ‘Temple Destruction and Indo-Muslim States.’ In Richard Eaton, Essays on Islam and Indian History: 94–132. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Elias, Jamal J. 2007. ‘(Un)making Idolatry: From Mecca to Bamiyan.’ Future Anterior 4 (2): 12–29.
Elkassem, Munir. 2001. ‘Afghanistan Suffers from the West’s Double Standard.’ Media Monitors Network (30-03-2001). http://www.mediamonitors.net/munir1.html (accessed 13 July 2010).
Ellis, Eric. 2013. ‘The Monks’ Army.’ The Global Mail. http://sri-lanka.theglobalmail.org/monks-army (accessed 23 August 2013).
Elmasry, Mohamed. 2001. ‘Remember, the Taliban are Politicians too.’ http://www.mediamonitors.net/elmasry1.html (accessed 13 June 2010).
Elverskog, Johan. 2010. Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.9783/9780812205312
Encyclopedia Iranica. 1985. Ehsan Yarshater (ed.). 15 vols. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Encyclopaedia of Islam, The. H. A. R. Gibb et al. (eds.). 1960–2009. 2nd edn, 12 vols. Leiden: Brill.
Flood, Finbarr Barry. 2002. ‘Between Cult and Culture: Bamiyan, Islamic Iconoclasm, and Museum.’ Art Bulletin 84 (4): 641–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3177288
Friedmann, Yohanan. 1975. ‘Medieval Muslim Views of Indian Religions.’ Journal of the American Oriental Society 95 (2): 214–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/600318
Gopin, Marc. 2000. Between Eden and Armageddon: The Future of World Religions, Violence, and Peacemaking. New York and London: Oxford University Press.
Goody, Jack. 2004. Islam in Europe. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Grabar, Oleg. 1977. ‘Islam and Iconoclasm.’ In Anthony Bryer and Judith Herrin (eds.), Iconoclasm: Papers Given at the Ninth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, University of Birmingham, March 1975: 45–52. Birmingham: University of Birmingham, Centre for Byzantine Studies.
Hamidullah, Muhammad. 1974. Muhammad Rasulullah: A Concise Survey of the Life and Work of the Founder of Islam. Hyderabad: Habib & Co.
Harvey, Peter. 1990. ‘Devotional Practices.’ In Peter Harvey (ed.), An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practice: 125–50. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hasan, Mohibbul (ed.). 1968. Historians of Medieval India. Meerut: Meenaksh Prakashan.
Hegarty, Stephanie. 2012. ‘Bamiyan Buddhas: Should They be Rebuilt?’ BBC (12-08-12). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18991066 (accessed 22 January 2014).
Human Rights Watch. 2002. ‘Crackdown on Burmese Muslims, July 2002.’ http://hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/burmese_muslims.pdf (accessed 19 April 2010).
IANS. 2001. ‘Protests in Pak on Taliban’s Action.’ Buddhism Today (02-03-2001). http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/world/facts/026-buddhadestruction.htm (accessed 13 June 2010).
Islam Online, 2001. ‘Qaradawi to Lead Delegation to Afghanistan to Save Statues.’ (09-03-2001).http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2001-03/10/article3.shtml(accessed 24 March 2010).
Jahn, Karl. 1965. Rashīd Al-Dīn’s History of India: Collected Essays with Facsimiles and Indices. The Hague: Mouton.
Jerryson, Michael K. 2011. Buddhist Fury: Religion and Violence in Southern Thailand. New York: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199793235.001.0001
Jihad on Buddhists. 2013a. http://www.jihadonbuddhists.org (accessed 5 April 2013).
— 2013b. http://jihadonbuddhists.org/?page_id=2 (accessed 5 April 2013).
— 2013c. http://jihadonbuddhists.org/?page_id=65 (accessed 5 April 2013).
Kimball, Charles. 2008. When Religion Becomes Evil. Rev. edn. London: Harper-Collins.
Klausen, Jytte. 2009. ‘The Danish Cartoons and Modern Iconoclasm in the Cosmopolitan Muslim Diaspora.’ Harvard Middle Eastern and Islamic Review 8: 86–118.
Konchok, Pema. 2002. ‘Buddhism as a Focus of Iconoclash in Asia.’ In Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel (eds.), Iconoclash: Beyond the Image Wars in Science, Religion, and Art: 40–59. Karlsruhe: ZKM.
Kyodo News International. 2001. ‘Taliban FM Calls Statues’ Destruction “Religious Act”.’ (13-03-2001). http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Taliban+FM+calls+statues’+destruction+’religious+act’.-a072344465 (accessed 25 January 2014).
Leslie, Donald Daniel. 1986. Islam in Traditional China: A Short History to 1800. Canberra, ACT: Canberra College of Advanced Education.
Little, David. 2006. ‘Religion, Violent Conflict, and Peacemaking.’ In Little 2006: 429–48.
Little, David, (ed.). 2006. Peacemakers in Action: Profiles of Religion in Conflict Resolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Little, David, and Scott Appleby. 2004. ‘A Moment of Opportunity? The Promise of Religious Peacebuilding in an Era of Religious and Ethnic Conflict.’ In Coward and Smith 2004: 1–23.
Makhmalbaf, Mohsen. 2001. ‘Afuganistan no Butsuzō wa Hakai Saretanodewanai: Chijoku no Amari Kuzure Ochitanoda.’ Gendai Shisō 29: 67–75.
Mansfield, Laura. 2007. Al Qaeda 2006 Yearbook: The 2006 Messages from Al Qaeda Leadership. n.p. TLG Publications.
Mirza, Tahir. 2001. ‘US Muslim Group Slams Destruction of Statues.’ Afghanistan News Center (10-03-2001). http://www.afghanistannewscenter.com/news/2001/march/mar11g2001.html (accessed 9 February 2014).
Nakata, Kō. 2002. ‘Isurāmu no Sekaikan to Shūkyō Taiwa.’ Kwansei Gakuin University Journal of Studies on Christianity and Culture 3: 51–70.
Obuse, Kieko. 2011. ‘Doctrinal Accommodations in Buddhist-Muslim Relations with Special Reference to Contemporary Japan.’ DPhil dissertation, University of Oxford.
O’Sullivan, Declan. 2001. ‘Taliban Destroy the Buddha Statues in Afghanistan: Does Islam Really Believe: “There is no Compulsion in Religion” (Al-Baqarah: 2:256)?’ Le Courrier du Geri—Recherches d’Islamologie et de Théologie Musulmane 4 (1-2): 45–84.
Popham, Peter. 2013. ‘Killing with Kindness: Burma’s Religious Battleground - and the Monks at the Heart of It’. The Independence (26-05-2013). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/killing-with-kindness-burmas-religious-battleground--and-the-monks-at-the-heart-of-it-8627571.html (accessed 26 January 2014).
Prakash, Buddha. 1968. ‘Fazlulla Rashid-ud-Din Abul Khair.’ In Hasan 1968: 11–21.
Rāghavan, Suren. 2013. ‘Buddhicizing or Ethnicizing the State: Do the Sinhala Sangha Fear Muslims in Sri Lanka?’ The Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 4: 88–104.
Sauvaget, Jean (trans.). 1948. Akhbār al-Sīnwa ‘l-Hind: Relation de la Chine et de L’Inde Rédigée en 851. Paris: Belles Lettres.
Siddique, Kaukab. 2007. ‘Taliban’s Liquidation of Statues, Islamic Response to Cultural Imperialism, Rebuttal of Prof. Azizah Hibri’s Views on Afghanistan.’ (23-05-2007). http://sandipdasverma.blogspot.com/2007/05/rebuttal-of-prof-azizah-hibris-views-on.html (accessed 17 July 2008).
Smith, Jane I. 1973. ‘Early Muslim Accounts of Buddhism in India.’ Studies in Islam 10: 87–100.
Stern, S. M., and Sofie Walzer. 1971. Three Unknown Buddhist Stories in an Arabic Version. Oxford: Cassier.
Sunday Times, The. 2001. ‘Bamiyan: Lanka Leads Crusade against Taliban.’ (04-03-2001). http://sundaytimes.lk/010304/frontm.html (accessed 13 June 2010).
Takagi, Tōru. 2004. Daibutsu Hakai: Bāmian Iseki wa Naze Hakai Saretanoka. Tokyo: Bungei Shunjū.
Tambiah, Stanley J. 1996. Leveling Crowds: Ethnonationalist Conflicts and Collective Violence in South Asia. Berkley, CA: University of California Press.
Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding Program on Religion and Conflict Resolution. 2006. ‘The Peacemakers in Action.’ In Little 2006: 3–21.
The Modern Religion. 2001. ‘Roving Ambassador Sayyid Rahmatullah Hashemi’s Speech at the University of Southern California on March 10, 2001.’ http://www.themodernreligion.com/jihad/afghan/speech.html (accessed 17 June 2008).
United Nations, The. 2001. ‘General Assembly “Appalled” by Edict on Destruction of Afghan Shrines; Strongly Urges Taliban to Halt Implementation.’ Press Release GA/9858 (09-03-2001). http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/ga9858.doc.htm (accessed 13 June 2010).
Varadarajan, Siddharth. 2001. ‘Why the Taliban are Doing it.’ Buddhism Today (04-03-2001). http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/world/facts/040-destruction.htm (accessed 17 June 2008).
Walton, Matthew J. 2013. ‘Violence and Responsibility in Myanmar.’ Asia Times Online (23-08-2013). http://atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-01-230813.html (accessed 26 January 2014).
Yahya, Harun. 2002. Islam and Karma. London: Ta-ha Publishers.
— 2003. Islam and Buddhism. New Delhi: Islamic Book Service.
Yusuf, Imtiyaz. 2007. ‘Faces of Islam in Southern Thailand.’ East-West Washington Working Papers 7: 1–25.
Zaman, Abu Abdullah Shibli. n.d. ‘The Buddhas of Bamiyan: Refuting those who Call for the Preservation of Idols in the Name of Islam.’ http://www.islamtreasure.com/uploads/5/0/2/9/5029153/the_buddhas_of_bamyan-abu_abdallah_shibli_zaman-www.islamchest.com.pdf (accessed 26 January 2014).