Judaism, Christianity and Islam are referred to as the Semitic traditions. Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism are referred to as the Indic traditions.
The Semitic traditions make a simple distinction between the saved and the damned in the afterlife i.e. Heaven and Hell. The Indic traditions have a concept of Heaven and Hell but offer a third possibility which is return to this world after death.
Do the Indic traditions believe in the End of Time and Doomsday? The Indic traditions do teach that the universe will be destroyed at the end of its cycle (kalpa) and this is defined as the pralaya (lit. dissolution) in Hinduism where all living energies are reunited with the Source (Brahman). This corresponds to what the Semitic traditions define as the "Day of Gathering" where all living energies are not only reunited with the Source but face Judgement as well. This event unfolds on earth as souls re-occupy bodily forms. A Hindu or Buddhist could argue that this return to bodily forms is a form of re-incarnation. Below are quotes from Muslim scholars and poets that are based on the Prophetic report1 that some will have animal forms at the Resurrection;
"If a person is dominated by appetite and greed, tomorrow [at the Resurrection] he will be seen in the form of a pig. If he is dominated by anger, he will be seen in the form of a dog"
- Imam al Ghazali 2
"Man's existence is a jungle... Of necessity you will be given form at the Resurrection in accordance with the character trait that predominates"
- Rumi 3
This, in the view of some Muslim thinkers, is the true meaning of transmigration (tanasukh), also known as Reincarnation. Mulla Sadra says that the reports that have come down from Plato and earlier philosophers concerning their belief in transmigration must be understood in this light.4 The Quran teaches that every nation on earth has received prophets. Ibn Arabi and Ibn Sina argue that some prophets or sages may have taught transmigration as allusions (isharat) so people would avoid wrongdoing.5 Over time, they began to misinterpret these teachings.
It is worth mentioning that there is a well known group of Western intellectuals known as the perennialists or traditionalists. They believe all religions are true but reject reincarnation as it is understood today and consider it a misunderstanding of traditional doctrine (see notes below). The fact that reincarnation was being adopted and popularised in their time by Western cultists was of particular concern for early perennialist authors like Rene Guenon. He argued that there is no coming back to this world after death because 'Infinity forbids repetition'. A return to this world on the Day of Resurrection is only acceptable because it occurs after the Apocalypse, when the earth is destroyed and created anew.
"The day when the earth shall be changed to another earth and the heavens too, and all shall come forth unto God, The One, The Omnipotent" - Quran 14.48
“No being of any kind can pass through the same state twice.”
- Rene Guenon 6
"'God does not repeat Himself', said the medieval Scholastics."
- Rene Guenon 7
"... to suppose a repetition... is to suppose a limitation"
- Rene Guenon 8
"Infinity excludes repetition. Only within a finite set can one return twice to the same element"
- Rene Guenon 9
"Speak... to a learned Hindu and he will tell you that there cannot be any return to this place."
- Charles le Gai Eaton 10
A well known Muslim orator from India who focuses on comparative religion argues that the most authentic Hindu scriptures (The Vedas) does not mention reincarnation. A point that seems to be shared by perennialist author Ananda K. Coomaraswamy when he says,
"Reincarnation is not a Vedic doctrine, but one of popular or unknown origin"
(Source: The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, p. 254)
Coomaraswamy also says,
(Source: Hinduism and Buddhism, Introduction]
* Islam teaches that all human beings will be raised naked at the Resurrection emphasising their humility before they are adorned with attire. The Prophet said,
"The first to be clothed on the Day of Arising will be Abraham عَلَیهِ السَّلام."
"It has been generally agreed by modern scholars that "reincarnation" is not a Vedic doctrine, but one of popular or unknown origin."
- Ananda Coomaraswamy 12
Notes
"The first to be clothed on the Day of Arising will be Abraham عَلَیهِ السَّلام."
(Source: al-Bukhari)
Such clothing may be garments in the ordinary sense or possibly forms our souls inhabit like attire.
*A person experiences many deaths and rebirths within a single lifetime. The Hindu and Buddhist teaching of past lives for each soul should be understood metaphorically, not literally.
* Ananda K. Coomaraswamy explains that a number of important Hindu texts define reincarnation in terms of hereditary. The father lives again in his son, and though the individuals die and return no more, the race is perpetually renewed.
"[If] he has procreated, that is his rebirth"
- Chandogya Upanishad 3.17.5
* Shankara's dictum: "Only the Lord transmigrates" (BrSBh 1.1.5). Only the Divine Spirit - not the individual soul - enters and enlivens earthly forms again and again.
* Below are a few more quotes from other perennialist authors who distinguish between transmigration and reincarnation.
"... the literal interpretation of .. transmigration... gives rise to the reincarnationist theory; the same literalism, when applied to sacred images, gives rise to idolatry. Were it not for this "pagan" aspect... Islam could not have made so deep an impression in the Hindu world.... the fact that many Hindus do interpret the symbolism of transmigration [literally]... proves nothing else than an intellectual decadence, almost normal in the Kali Yuga (end-times), and foreseen by the Scriptures."
- Frithjof Schuon 11
- Ananda Coomaraswamy 12
"In the modern West, the notion of "reincarnation" has been adopted by many cultists, who, in the grossest manner imaginable, profess to believe in it literally, envisaging a series of human rebirths in this world. It is true that a literal attitude towards transmigration is also to be found among the Hindu and Buddhist masses, and indeed such a belief derives from a literal interpretation of the respective scriptures. However, the most simple Asian peasant, even if he looks on transmigration literally, has an infinitely more subtle intuition of the moral and spiritual implications of this doctrine than the grotesque cultists of the West. In Asia, a literalist attitude towards transmigration is not only harmless, but may even be beneficial."
- William Stoddart 13
References
1. The Tao of Islam by Sachiko Murata, pages 278-83
2. The Tao of Islam by Sachiko Murata, pages 278-83
3. The Tao of Islam by Sachiko Murata, pages 278-83
4. The Tao of Islam by Sachiko Murata. pages 278-83
5. The Tao of Islam by Sachiko Murata. Pages 278-83
6. The Spiritist Fallacy by Rene Guenon, page 180
7. The Spiritist Fallacy, page 180
8. The Spiritist Fallacy, page 180
9. The Spiritist Fallacy, page 180
10. Remembering God: Reflections on Islam by Gai Eaton, page 198
11. The Transcendent Unity of Religions by Frithjof Schuon
12. The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, page 254
13. An Illustrated Outline of Buddhism: The Essentials of Buddhist Spirituality by William Stoddart, page 123
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