Greetings, Acintya_Ash & Poeticus.
I believe that you have both misinterpret what I truly meant to say and I might have not expressed myself eloquently, in my first reply.
Let me give you an insight what I believe about Buddha and why he is the prophet of God:
Buddha is mentioned in the Quran, under the title Dhul-Kifl, Kifl is an Arabic form of "Kapil," which is a shorter form of Kapilavastu, which is where Buddha significantly appeared. God mentions Buddha twice in the Quran as Dhul-Kifl. God praises Buddha as a prophet. The first time Buddha is mentioned in the Quran, he is described as a man of constancy and patience, which is true. He also called him for a righteous man. The second time that he is mentioned, he is praised yet again as the Company of the Good. These describe Buddha, the name is even a title for Buddha. It is sensical to assume that this man was Buddha.
Now, that is what Quran has shared with us about Buddha, now we need to make our own research about the history of Buddha.
Some Buddhist scriptures are written in Pali, but Buddha was born in Nepal and spoke the language that is Sanskrit. This has been unanimously agreed upon by various scholars.
I will now mention some facts that we know about the history of Buddha:
He taught peace and Jihad (i.e striving, good deeds), he met with many of the divine through his asceticism. One of these were Mara (which is Satan), other times he met with God or the Angels. He learned to control his desires and he performed several miracles, such as taming a wild elephant.
What proves Buddha to be a prophet is that several of his teachings are very similar to Quran, Buddha taught about a messiah that will return to restore the true messages of his that has been corrupted, this fulfillment has occurred through Jesus Christ to Mohammad's Quran. He knew that all the prophets' messages will be destroyed and predicted Muhammad to return and restore them through what Jesus originally taught.
We are taught that God has sent prophets to every nation and region:
"And for every nation is a messenger. So when their messenger comes, it will be judged between them in justice, and they will not be wronged." [Q, 10:47]
This verse is reflecting upon what I meant to say. The Quran teaches every nation had a prophet, not to submit to God, but to avoid from being wronged, meaning deviate from idolatry, Buddha always taught that no one should ever worship him or make any sculptures of him, he several times taught that he were no different from any other man.
Because of this, he is still qualified to be called the prophet of God, even if he didn't preach about God. When I say that he were a prophet, I do not mean a messenger or prophet in the sense that he preached what God told him, but I do believe that he was considered to be a curious man that wished to understand why there were misery in this world and had questions to God and he achieved wisdom like no other person, since God had ordained him with divine knowledge and a compassionate universal message, that is very compatible with Islam and why he is a sage and in some sense a prophet as a prophet means to be divine or divinely inspired or having the ability to meet the divine.
Therefore, his silence on submission to God do not change that he still were a prophet, which the first reply of the other user disagreed upon.
I did not say that he preached about submitting yourself to God, what I said is that he weren't silent on God in his everyday times when he had debates, although he were mostly silent in his teachings. But what he spoke about God does not contradict my opinions, I said that he did believe in God and that he received the answers of the questions he asked.
Buddha never taught about this God, but he did believe in the same God. That is what I said.
But, he admitted some kind of truths on that his teachings were not infallible, he admitted that his teachings has the capacity to change and be nullified and abrogated according to times, on what he will adapt to, which is somewhat him saying that his teachings will be changed to fit to those of Jesus and Muhammad's teachings in the future, in my interpretation.
His purpose was only a messenger from God to make the people not to be wronged, which was his job and he did it well, he wasn't supposed to be anything more. He submitted to God by meditating. He was a Muslim in every way, he taught peace, promoted knowledge and submission to yourself. He spread knowledge and awareness in his own way.
The God that Buddha believed in can be found in the Gospel of Buddha by Paul Carus:
From the story "The Two Brahmans;"
The Holy One said: 'The Brahmans cling to the five things leading to worldliness and yield to the temptations of the senses; they are entangled in the five hindrances, lust, malice, sloth, pride, and doubt. How can they be united to that which is most unlike their nature? Therefore the threefold wisdom of the Brahmans is a waterless desert, a pathless jungle, and a hopeless desolation.' When the Buddha had thus spoken, one of the Brahmans said: 'We are told, Gotama, that the Sakyamuni knows the path to a union with Brahma.' And the Blessed One said: 'What do you think, O Brahmans, of a man born and brought up in Manasakata? Would he be in doubt about the most direct way from this spot to Manasakata?' 'Certainly not, Gotama.' 'Thus,' replied the Buddha, 'the Tathagata knows the straight path that leads to a union with Brahma. He knows it as one who has entered the world of Brahma and has been born in it. There can be no doubt in the Tathagata.' The two young Brahmans said: 'If thou knowest the way show it to us.' And the Buddha said: 'The Tathagata sees the universe face to face and understands its nature. He proclaims the truth both in its letter and in its spirit, and his doctrine is glorious in its origin, glorious in its progress, glorious in its consummation. The Tathagata reveals the higher life in its purity and perfection. He can show you the way to that which is contrary to the five great hindrances. The Tathagata lets his mind pervade the four quarters of the world with thoughts of love. And thus the whole wide world, above, below, around, and everywhere will continue to be filled with love, far-reaching, grown great, and beyond measure. just as a mighty trumpeter makes himself heard--and that without difficulty--in all the four quarters of the earth; even so is the coming of the Tathagata: there is not one living creature that the Tathagata passes by or leaves aside, but regards them all with mind set free, and deep-felt love.'
Tathagata: What I perceive to be the highest realm in meditation and asceticism, he is referring to the Barzakh.
Brahma: The creative force of Brahman. In other words; the divinity of God.
Brahman: The transcendent absolute being that pervades and supports all reality. Another definition of Brahman is that which is absolute, fills all space, is complete in itself, to which there is no second, and which is continuously present in everything, from the Creator down to the lowest of matter. It, being everywhere, is also in each and every individual.
The word "Brahman" is not a deity in itself, just like "God" does not mean the Christian deity. It's a term to refer to a definition of such a deity that is all-knowing, all-powerful, etcetera. Whose ability is everything. God of Islam fits to the definition of "Brahman."
That, above, is what I meant by "... but his language (Sanskrit) expressed God in a different way."
In this story, we see that Buddha do believe in a supreme God. If Buddha claimed there is no such thing as God, why is he discussing God with Brahmans? By Buddha claiming to know the path to Brahma he was also claiming to know the path to Brahman. In other words, he knew the correct path to God and he preached that path.
Buddha's views on God as you lists are either prior to his Buddhahood or interpolated during the 500 years oral transmission. We are not to expect an unaltered story here. Problem of evil, which was a philosophy Buddha had prior to his enlightenment and prophethood, were only that, philosophies prior to his enlightenment, he had questions and they were answered by God during his enlightenment. They shouldn't be used here.
Thank you for reading my opinions.
