Life of Ahmad — Page 673
as JESUS as IN INDIA 673 here might not be absolutely exact. Ten of the tribes had separated themselves soon after the close of Solomon’s reign, and Samaria was called the capital of the kingdom of Israel and when it was taken 'the great mass of the people were transported to provinces beyond the Euphrates. ' The words of the Bible quoted above are 'carried Israel away. ' It does not say that one or two tribes were taken away. It is the ten tribes who were called the Kingdom of Israel. Therefore, it would be no exaggeration to say that almost all the ten tribes were deported. Now it is an established fact that they did not all return. The Biblical Encyclopaedia (Edited by John Eadie, London, 1862) says: 'Jewish historians say they never did return'. Haydon’s Bible Dictionary , writing about the Israelite exiles, says that 'some of them formed Jewish colonies in various Eastern countries; but the great majority merged in the heathen mass around them, and though their descendents to this day may be traced among the Afghans and elsewhere, as a people they really still continue to be lost beyond the power of human recognition'. (p. 112. ) It should also be remembered that the kingdom of Ahasuerus III (or Xerxes, son of Darius Hystaspis 485 B. C. ) extended 'from India to Ethiopia' (Esther 1:1). The tribes of Israel lived in the Persian Empire which