Why doesn't anyone in the Soka Gakkai correct Dr. Shihab M. A. Ghanem?

Dr. Shihab Ghanem gave a lecture on "Al Fatihah―The Opening Chapter of the Quran"

On June 6, 2015, the Institute of Oriental Philosophy (IOP) organized a lecture titled, “Al Fatihah―The Opening Chapter of the Quran” by Dr. Shihab M. A. Ghanem and Dr. Waddhah Ghanem held at the Central Tower of Soka University. 

In his speech, Dr. Shihab Ghanem presented some similarities between Nichiren Buddhism and Islam. He mentioned that, as Buddhism also suggests, Islam proposes the idea of the eternity of life, the equality of all life, and emphasizes the importance of harmony and coexistence with other religions. He went on to explain that in Islam Jihad does not refer to war or combat but rather to an inner struggle with oneself. 

Following his speech, Dr. Waddhah Ghanem gave a summary of Al Fatifah, which is the opening chapter of the Quran. He explained that Al Fatifah has multiple names such as “The Mother of the Quran,” “The Seven Oft-repeated Ones,” “The Complete One,” “The One that Suffices,” and “The Curing One,” indicating that it is the most essential part of the Quran. He also mentioned that Al Fatifah praises and appreciates Allah as the source of absolute and infinite mercy and recognizes Allah as king, master, or sovereign on the Day of Judgement. He added that we human beings have desires and can easily be swayed by the negative forces within us, but that Allah guides us to the correct path. 　

In a question and answer session, Dr. Waddhah Ghanem commented that mankind was created as a collective and that we cannot live on our own, which is why Islam teaches us to contribute to society. Therefore, whatever is good for society is considered good for individuals. 

To the question of the meaning of prayer in Islam, Dr. Shihab Ghanem replied that through prayer, we can directly communicate with Allah and cleanse ourselves. He stressed that we must always remember that God sees us even if we do not see him. Dr. Waddhah said that God created a spirit and gave it to man. In this sense, we all have God’s spirit, and all human beings are therefore equal. 

Profile: 

Dr. Shihab M. A. Ghanem is a poet, translator and scholar from Dubai, UAE. To date, he has published over 50 books, including 14 collected poems in Arabic, a collected poem in English and 20 collected poems translated from English to Arabic and Arabic to English. Dr. Ghanem also directed and worked on the Arabic edition of SGI President Ikeda’s book, Fighting for Peace (Dubai, 2014). He carries out research on Al Fatihah together with his son, Dr. Waddhah S. Ghanem.

Organizer: The Institute of Oriental Philosophy (IOP)

Lecturer: Dr. Shihab M. A. Ghanem and Dr. Waddhah S. Ghanem

Venue: Soka University, Central Tower 

Date: June 6, 2015

Why wait to the day of judgement to gain emancipation? Besides, Allah follows and protects the Buddha and the votaries of the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren teaches:

"FROM this time forward, the great bodhisattvas, as well as Brahmā, Shakra, the gods of the sun and moon, and the four heavenly kings, became the disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings. Thus, in the “Treasure Tower” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha treats these great bodhisattvas as his disciples, admonishing and instructing them in these words: “So I say to the great assembly: After I have passed into extinction, who can guard and uphold, read and recite this sutra? Now in the presence of the Buddha let him come forward and speak his vow!” This was the solemn way he addressed them. Then, among the great bodhisattvas, it was “as though a great wind were tossing the branches of small trees.” Like the kusha grass bending before a great wind or like rivers and streams drawn to the great ocean, so were they drawn to the Buddha." 

Since the Great Gods Brahma, Shakra, the gods of the sun and moon, the four heavenly kings, and their followers such as Allah, and Jesus are disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha and who uphold the Lotus Sutra, why should we communicate by offering prayers to Allah to cleanse ourselves when Allah communicates with the Buddha to cleanse himself?  We may offer prayers to Allah for protection but not to cleanse ourselves. Nichiren teaches:

"For example, Moriya paid honor to numerous gods who had appeared during the seven reigns of the heavenly deities and the five reigns of the earthly deities, praying that the Buddhist teachings would not spread, and that the Confucian texts would be honored as they had been before. Prince Shōtoku, on the other hand, took Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, as his object of devotion, and adopted the Lotus Sutra and the other sutras as his scriptures. The two parties vied for supremacy, but in the end the gods were defeated, the Buddha emerged victorious, and just as had happened in India and China, the land of the gods for the first time became a land of the Buddha. The passage in the sutra that reads, “Now this threefold world is all my domain,” was in the process of being fulfilled.

During the twenty-some reigns from Emperor Kimmei to Emperor Kammu, a period of or more years, the Buddha was looked up to as the sovereign, and the gods were regarded as his ministers. In this way the world was governed. But although the Buddhist teachings held a superior place and the gods an inferior one, the world was not well governed.

People began to question why this should be so; and in the reign of Emperor Kammu there appeared a sage known as the Great Teacher Dengyō who pondered over the problem. “The gods have been defeated, and the Buddha has emerged victorious,” he asserted. “The Buddha is looked upon as the sovereign and the gods as his ministers; the relations between superior and inferior are correctly ordered in accordance with the rules of propriety, and therefore the nation should be well governed. How strange, then, that there is such unrest in the country! With this in mind, I began to examine all the sutras, and I realized that there is indeed a reason for such a state of affairs.

“The teachings of Buddhism have been guilty of a grave error. Among all the sutras, the Lotus Sutra ought to hold the position of sovereign, with the other sutras such as the Flower Garland, Larger Wisdom, Profound Secrets, and Āgama sutras occupying the position of minister or attendant or common person. And yet the Three Treatises school asserts that the Wisdom sutras are superior to the Lotus Sutra, the Dharma Characteristics school holds that the Profound Secrets Sutrais superior to the Lotus Sutra, and the Flower Garland school holds that the Flower Garland Sutra is superior to the Lotus Sutra, while the Precepts school proclaims itself the mother of all the other schools. There is not a single votary of the Lotus Sutra, and those who do read and recite the Lotus Sutra have been, contrary to all expectations, derided and dismissed by the people of the world.”

He proclaimed that, because of this, heaven was angered, and the benevolent deities who would have guarded the nation found their powers weakened. And he declared that, even though people praise the Lotus Sutra, they destroy its heart." 

Likewise, because the people fail to uphold the Lotus Sutra and look upon Shakyamuni Buddha as sovereign, teacher and parent, prayers to Allah and all the gods go unanswered. That is the reason millions of Muslims are dying in wars, famine, tsunamis and earthquakes across the globe.