Apr 8, 2025
Muslim engagement with Buddhism, however, was not limited to theological and historical works. Islamic architecture derived inspiration from and appropriated localized Buddhist forms across Asia. And in opposition to Islam's well-known iconoclasm, an extensive Muslim trade in Buddhist icons flourished through the tenth century. Indeed, over time the term bot (idol, presumably deriving from Buddha) lost its religious significance and became a clichéd metaphor of idealized beauty in Persian poetry.