Hamza Yusuf's Defense of Buddhism

Hamza Yusuf's article "Buddha in the Qur'an?" reveals many of his most fanciful theories and clear errors in creed. Throughout the article he defends Buddhism from what he presents as uneducated claims made by Muslims that Buddhist are idolaters. He even states ",early Muslim scholars of comparative religion ... held a favorable opinion of Buddhists and marveled at the profound spirituality of Buddhist practitioners.". He also states in a footnote that "Ch'an (the Chinese name of zen Buddhism)Buddhism rejects all forms of idolatry openly and in practice. He argues that the Buddhist are the Sabians and even claims that Abu Hanifah argues "that they do not worship idols, but rather they exalt the stars, as the kaaba, for example, is exalted [among Muslims].". The last of these false claims makes the extent of Yusuf's ignorance of correct Islamic creed and dare I say reality all too clear. He writes "And Zen Buddhism certainly cannot be termed idolatrous, even by Islam's severe standards of idolatry.".

Sadly even non-Muslims including Buddhists themselves acknowledge that Zen Buddhism as a tradition includes acts of shirk (idolatry). The following are two examples that anyone can find on the internet. On Wikipedia we find the following:

The Butsudan is the altar in a monastery where offerings are made to the images of the Buddha or Bodhisattvas. The same term is also used in Japanese homes for the altar where one prays to and communicates with deceased family members. As such, reciting liturgy in Zen can be seen as a means to connect with the Bodhisattvas of the past. Liturgy is often used during funerals, memorials, and other special events as means to invoke the aid of supernatural powers.

Secondly On buddhanet.net we find the following:

If one travels to Asia, that is, China or Japan, one might notice that the Ch'an or Zen Masters of the ancient past, and especially Bodhidharma, are revered as Divinities. This is because within the apparently simplistic texts of the Ch'an or Zen there is an Esoteric aspect that preserves for posterity the metaphysics of Ch'an or Zen. However, the contemporary world of Buddhist scholars did not realize this and could not understand why the Ch'an/Zen followers approached Bodhidharma as a Buddha or Divinity.

It seems more than clear to anyone not simply the Muslim that Zen Buddhists worship the Buddha. It is not surprising though that Hamzu Yusuf does not recognize them as mushriks in that he appears to have a very different concept of worship than that presented by the Qur'an and Sunnah as we find him stating "many muslims tend to conflate veneration and worship.". I guess that invoking the aid of supernatural powers is veneration and not worship. None of this is surprising coming from a Sufi life Yusuf in that they do not recognize invocation of saintly figures as worship.