Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 68
68 AHMADIYY AT Rawalpindi, professed to take up the challenge but failed miserably and earned only ridicule and humiliation in conse- quence. His championship of Islam was blessed by God to such a degree that after their first encounter with him, the advocates of other religions always avoided being placed in juxtaposi- tion to him in any religious discussion or debate. In the caseof Christian missionaries a directive was issued by the authori- ties of the Anglican Church that no one of their clergy should get involved in a discussion with any member of the Ahma- diyya Movement. One of the functions of the Promised Messiah as indicated by the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, was to refute the Christian claim that Jesus had died upon the cross in order to take over the burden of the sins of mankind and thus to redeem humanitY through his atonement. Ahmad took up the refutation of this claim with great vigour and established from the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion that Jesus was taken down from the cross before life had become extinct and was ministered unto and resuscitated, and having met his disciples and convinced them that he was still alive in his physical body, he departed fromJ':1daea in search of the lost tribes of Israel. In 1899Ahmad wrote a book under the title Jesus in India in which he recited briefly the course of the journey of Jesus in search of the lost tribes through Mesopotamia, Iran, Afg- hanistan and Kashmir. He established that Jesus had finally settled down in Kashmir and had died in Srinagar where he lies buried. Historical evidence that has since become avail- able fully confirms the account given by Ahmad of the journey of Jesus to Kashmir, his sojourn there and his death and burial in Srinagar. He thus effectively gave the quietus to the series of myths concerning the death of Jesus upon the cross, his resurrection and his ascension to heaven in his physical body.