Life of Ahmad — Page 670
JESUS as IN INDIA as 670 came as a massenger of God, did his duty and died a natural death like all mortal beings. When the Ahmadiyya Movement spread to Kashmir, the people thereof came to Qadian. One day, says Dr. Sadiq ra (born 13. 1. 1872) an old Companion of Ahmad as , the Promised Messiah, a man from Kashmir spoke to Ahmad as incidentally of the tomb of a Prophet which existed in Sirinagar. He was very much interested in it. F. Bernier (1625—1688), the French doctor who accompanied Aurangzeb to Kashmir, had written that there was a tomb near the old city of Sirinagar which was known as the tomb of Moses as. But Maulaw i N u r-ud-D i n ra , who had lived in Kashmir for 14 years, told Ahmad as that there was no such tomb in Kashmir, but that there existed in Sirinagar the tomb of a Prophet who was known as Y u z As af. Local investigation brought to light further facts. The name of the Prophet was confirmed as Y u z As af 161 (apparently a corruption of Jesus as ). 161 This tradition is well known among the people, having been handed down among them century after century (See Tar i kh Kashmir A‘ z am i , Muhammadi Press, Lahore, 1303 A. H, p. 82). After Ahmad’s as announcement Christian Missionaries have also been visiting the tomb. Rev. H. A. Walter, Literary Secretary, National Council of the Y. M. C. A. of India, went to the place in 1913 and even he confirms the fact that the tomb has existed there for many centuries and that it is known to be the tomb of a Prophet of God, called Y u z As af (Ahmadiyya Movement, Calcutta, 1918, p. 93). This name Josaphat or Y u z As af appears definitely to be of Jewish derivation; it was probably Yas u As af, Jesus the aggrieved. The story (Barlaam and Josaphat) in which this name occurs is certainly significant. The book is preserved in Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Ethiopic, Armenian, Georgian and many European languages. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge (Funk & Wagnalls,