The Presence of Buddhist Thought in Kalām Literature

Buddhism is for the most part reported with the name of "Samaniyya" in early and classical Islamic theology (Kalām). The accounts of the so-called Barāhima by Muslim theologians (the Mutakallimūn) also reveal some underlying Buddhist sources. Furthermore, the Islamic atomists share with the Samaniyya and the Barāhima the same epistemological premises, which reflect the theory of pramāṇa in Buddhism. Regarding the transmission route, all evidence points to Balkh, where two classical Sarvāstivādin Buddhist texts (Vibhāṣā and Kośa) containing the main points of the Barāhima-Samaniyya doctrines and Islamic atomism, continued to be taught in the Naw Bahār (New Temple) down to the eve of the Arab conquest.