Hinduism and Islam: Allah and Brahman, what do scholars have to say?

Question

Islam rather famously disapproves of polytheism, but I have noticed something of an overlap between Islamic and Hindu ideas, and want to know what classical Islamic scholars have concluded on the matter. Muslims and Hindus have lived together in India for centuries, and Mughal Emperors fluctuated between interfaith dialogue and intolerance. Mughal rulers even elevated Hindus to Dhimmi.

As far as I understand it, Islam emphasises strict monotheism (no God but Allah), in a way Judaism and Christianity don't. The Second Commandment doesn't deny the existence of other Gods, but rather insists that the God of Abraham must come first.

To clarify; for Muslims Allah is indivisible and absolute (tawhid), while for most Christians the trinity exists: God is father in heaven, son in Jesus, and Holy Ghost (comparable to the Holy Spirit in Judaism).

Furthermore, in the Old Testament God phrases things to imply there are other Gods or divine characters of equal status (Genesis 1:26 "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness"). At least, in this podcast world expert in the New Testament and early Christianity Bart Ehrman concludes as much (1h:20m... I'm not in a position to argue against someone who has studied the oldest copies of the Bible in ancient Greek and Hebrew).

Hinduism is a very broad spectrum of belief and practice, which lacks anything considered an immutable source of absolute truth, like a Torah, Bible, or Quran. However, a common foundational Hindu belief is that the nature of reality is illusionary (Maya versus Atman), and there is one absolute and ultimate creator God (Brahman). The other Gods are 'avatars', which is to say illusionary forms.

The most common interpretation is of a 'supreme divinity' in the Trimurti; Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, Shiva the destroyer. It's also worth clarifying, as per Britanica.com:

"The trimurti collapses the three gods into a single form with three faces [...] Scholars consider the doctrine of the trimurti to be an attempt to reconcile different approaches to the divine with each other and with the philosophical doctrine of ultimate reality (brahman)"

Many Hindus believe in an 'ultimate reality/truth' in the form of Brahman (easily confused with Brahma). This is said to be both the source of all existence and an unchanging absolute. Some Hindus are also practically monotheist, in the sense of worshiping Krishna as the source of all reality.

This made me wonder... given the coexistence of Muslims and Hindus in India, there must be classical scholarship by Islamic theologians on the question of how Islam and Hinduism compare with specific regards to Allah and Brahman.

What seems most curious to me, is that if Brahman is understood as a singular, absolute, and ultimate God/reality, then that is essentially Allah without (or pre?) Mohammad. This comparison must surely have been written about by some scholars, presumably most likely during the Mughal Empire.

To be clear, I am not interested in a simple definition, but an educated and technical one. I would like the cited opinions of experts who are familiar with both Islam and Hinduism.

Answer 1

Neither the prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) nor any of the prior prophets referred to in the Quran ever mentionned anything about the Indian-Brahman religion outspokenly.

Islam scolars usually reject Hinduism as polytheism and refuse to identify any Indian deity with Allah because no Indian deity is mentioned, and polytheism is clearly rejected in the Quran. You can see this indirectly from here that Brahman is not considered a reception of Allah. Little is said in Islam fiqh directly concerning Brahman. I found one citation in a Salafya source.

Hinduism divides Allah, the One God into three principles, assigned to deities. Brahman stands for God as the Creator, Vishnu for the Preserver, and Shiva for the Destroyer. The deities are assigned to principles or properties of God Allah. In this sense, the notion of Brahman cannot be understood as identical to Allah but only a part of Him. Hence, both from Muslim and from from the Hindu view, it is not appropriate to identify the notion of Brahman in the sense of Hinduism with Allah. Nevertheless, Brahman traditions were partly received in Islam during the islamisation of people who formerly adhered a Brahman religion DR.AZLY RAHMAN (duplicate here).

In contrast to this, the Sikh religion knows the One God ੴ , but although it is based on Indian traditions, the One God is not entirely identified with Brahman but with Allah.

The recent Hare Krishna sect, a monotheistic branch based on the Vedic tradition, identifies Krishna with Allah which is logical (as one god cannot be beside another One God) but not supported by religious history, where Krishna is a manifestation of Vishnû (not Brahma).

See also a valuable Answer from Hindu SE on this topic.

Answer 2

In Hinduism, Brahman is considered the ultimate reality, infinite and eternal, and the source of all creation. It is beyond all forms and names and is the one and only true reality.

Difference between the concept of Brahma and Allah:

One of the significant differences between Brahman and Allah is that Brahman is infinite but can take a finite shape when required. For instance, if someone passionately worships Brahman and requests him to be their son or husband, Brahman will take a finite form and fulfill their desire. However, such concepts do not exist in Islam, and the idea of Allah taking a finite shape is not accepted.

Furthermore, In Hinduism, Brahman is considered the ultimate reality, and the Upanishads state that "Brahman is one without a second," which means that there is nothing else besides Brahman. Everything that exists, including humans, animals, trees, and rocks, is considered a manifestation of Brahman.However, this notion cannot be extended to Allah in Islam, and it could be regarded as blasphemy.