Truth About The Crucifixion — Page 27
tinued his ministry for a long time among the lost tribes of Israel. . The tribes believed in him and it was the result of his teaching that when they came to know of the advent of the Holy Prophet of Islam, they were able to recognise his truth and became Muslims. . Thus the Holy Shroud has not the character of the missing link, in the chain of evidence in support of the deliverance of. Jesus from the cross. If the shroud is a fabrication, the Christians are responsible for according undeserved reverence to it. If it is genuine, it is additional evidence in support of our thesis, and adds to our knowledge on the subject. But if it is not genuine, it does not in any way detract from the knowledge that we possess. . The Divine purpose of the raising of a prophet is, that the people among whom the prophet is raised may be delivered from their vicious life, and by acting upon the guidance furnished through the prophet, should advance towards the One True God and win His love. Jesus was raised among the children of Israel. . It is a historical fact that only a portion of two tribes of Israel dwelt in Palestine at the time of the advent of Jesus. . Ten of the twelve tribes had, through various causes, been dispersed through Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, India and Kashmir. . Large Jewish settlements had been established in Kashmir, and they were "lost" not only because they had been cut-off from their original home, but they were also "lost" in the sense that they had been weaned away from the law of Moses, and many of them had become Buddhists, or idol-worshipping Hindus. . One of the two principal purposes of the advent of Jesus was, that he should re-establish these lost sheep of the house of Israel on the true teachings of the law of Moses, and should win back those who had become Buddhists into the fold of Moses and into the obedience of the Mosaic law, and to re-establish those who had become Hindus on the Unity of God, and obedience to. Mosaic law. Jesus achieved great success in this mission and all these ten tribes achieved the good fortune of believing in the prophethood of Jesus, and became firmly established on the Unity of God. . Jesus was the last prophet in the Mosaic dispensation, and there was to be no other prophet in Israel after him. Prophethood was to be cut off from Israel, and was to be transferred to the. House of Ishmael. There was, therefore, the hazard that through their ill-fortune the children of Israel might refuse to accept the 29