Effects of a Buddhist Afghanistan?

Before Afghanistan was an Islamic kingdom, it was a Buddhist one. Supposing for various reasons (either they resisted conversion, Caliphate didn't venture into area, etc) what butterflies might fly out from Afghanistan remaining a largely Buddhist nation/region?
 
Before Afghanistan was an Islamic kingdom, it was a Buddhist one. Supposing for various reasons (either they resisted conversion, Caliphate didn't venture into area, etc) what butterflies might fly out from Afghanistan remaining a largely Buddhist nation/region?

Have you read the book 'I am Malala', by Malala Yousafzai? There's a lot of interesting descriptions in there about the Buddhist legacy of the region. Malala is from the Swat Valley in Pakistan, which is about 25 miles from the border with Afghanistan. She says that in her area, there were thousands of Buddhist statues and the remains of hundreds of Buddhist monasteries. These Buddhist monuments exist in Afghanistan too - my uncle visited the giant Buddha statue at Bamiyan in the 1960s. Interestingly, the local peoples feel an affinity for Buddhist symbols as part of their heritage. There's even a poem about it, which reads something like this:

"When the sound of truth calls from the Minarets (of the Islamic Mosque), the Buddha smiles".

It's a revealing quote that shows how people felt about it. They don't see spirituality as sharply divided between us and them, they see wisdom as timeless and transcending boundaries.

If we are to imagine Afghanistan stays Buddhist, then Pakistan will be Buddhist too and most likely India will not have lived for many centuries under the Muslim Mughal Empire. The effects on India, Pakistan would be huge - for a start, both countries wouldn't exist, since by definition they were created along religious lines. Historically, Buddhism existed in Iran too and there are plenty of people who believe that aspects of Buddhism have survived in Sufism.

Sufism is a kind of branch of Islam which focuses on inner truth, peace through meditation and introspection. It has many similarities with Buddhism. The Sufis believe that the search for 'God' or 'Enlightenment' is within ourselves. It's exactly like the Buddhist search for truth.

I predict that a Buddhist Afghanistan would be not very likely, however, due to differences between mainstream Islam and Buddhism which have to do with their ability to appeal to the masses and to maintain influence on the population. Remember that Buddhism died out in India, BEFORE the Muslim conquest. Why did that happen? The general consensus appears to be that Buddhism had become too elitist and had retreated from the world too much, allowing the Hindu Brahmins to win over the common people and stamp their control on India.

Also, remember that Buddhism is not necessarily very effective as a belief system when faced with war and invasion by hostile powers, whereas Islam is probably better suited to motivate people in this situation since it talks specifically about the need to stand up for truth, struggle against oppression and to fight back if necessary when you are attacked.

I can't see a Buddhist Afghanistan as very likely, particularly given the drastic early expansion of Islam and the massive power of the Ummayad Caliphate. They had the resources of the entire Middle East under their control. I just can't see how Afghanistan would have been able to resist.

Furthermore, many Buddhists converted to Islam in Afghanistan and other regions - there must have been something motivating them to do so. It wasn't force, since it is recorded that even in the time of Mahmoud of Ghazni in the 11th century there were still Hindus in Afghanistan and that these were living freely in their traditions.

I would speculate that the new religion would have fitted quite well with the values Buddhists already had, and thus conversion to Islam wouldn't have been much of a jump. Early Islam had a strong strain of tolerance, mercy, kindness, charity and virtue, and those are the same values that Buddhists hold dear.
 
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