Al Islam

a. 2:88; 17:3; 32:24; 40:54. (close)

2000. As Jesus’s death, like his birth, has become a subject of great controversy, and some confusion and doubt still persist as to how and where he passed the last days of his crowded life, and as the question of the manner of his death also forms a vital question with the Christian Faith, a somewhat exhaustive note on this very important, albeit baffling religious question is called for. The Qur’an and the Bible, reinforced by authenticated facts of history, lend powerful support to the view that Jesus did not die on the Cross. The following arguments substantiate and support this contention:

(1) In his book "The Unknown Life of Jesus" Nicholas Notovitch, a Russian traveller, who visited the Far East in about 1877 tells us that Jesus came to Kashmir and Afghanistan. Sir Francis Younghusband, who at the time when Nicholas Notovitch visited Kashmir, was a British resident at the court of the Maharaja of Kashmir, met him near the Zojila Pass. Recent research about Jesus’s travels in the East lends powerful support to Notovitch’s book. 'In Srinagar', says Professor Nicholus Roerich in his book "Heart of Asia," 'we first encountered the curious legend about Christ’s visit to the place. Afterwards we saw how widely spread in India, in Laddakh and in Central Asia, was the legend of the visit of Christ to those parts… All over Central Asia, in Kashmir and Laddakh and Tibet and even further north, there still exists a strong belief that Jesus or Issa travelled about there' ("Glimpses of World History" by Jawahar Lal Nehru).

Some scholars have taken refuge behind some obscure passages in Notovitch’s book to claim that Jesus came to the East before and not after he was commissioned as a Divine Prophet. But a mere boy of 13 or 14 years of age as Jesus is stated to have been when he came to India, he could not have conceived of undertaking so long and arduous a journey to a far-off land, and thus of exposing himself to mortal danger on the way. After all, what attraction or motives Jesus had, at such an early age, in coming over to India? And if at all he came to India at that time, what interest did the people of India and Kashmir have in keeping a record of the activities, doings and wanderings of a boy of 13 or 14? The fact based on historical data is that after he had been rejected by the Jews and his life had become unsafe in Palestine, Jesus forsook that country to search, in fulfilment of the old biblical prophecies, for 'The Lost Ten Tribes of Israel,' and undertook the long and dangerous journey to India and Kashmir and lived an eventful life to the very ripe age of 120 (Kanzul-‘Ummal. vol. 6). It is then that records came to be kept of his activities. These 'Lost Tribes of Israel' had, after their great dispersion by the Assyrians and Babylonians, lived in Iraq and Iran; and later, when the Iranians under Darius and Cyrus extended their territories further East to Afghanistan and India, these tribes migrated with them to these countries.

(2) The Kashmiris and Afghans are the descendants of 'The Lost Tribes of Israel.' This fact is quite evident from the traditions, history and written records of these two peoples. The names of their towns and tribes, their customs, habits, mode and manner of living, their dress, their physical features, etc. all resemble those of the Jews. Their ancient monuments and old inscriptions also support this view. Their folklore is full of Jewish stories. The name Kashmir itself is in reality Kashir meaning "like Syria" (or it seems to have been named after Kash or Cush, a grandson of Noah). All these facts impart certainty to the view that the Afghans and Kashmiris are largely the descendants of 'The Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.'

(3) These proofs are evidence enough to establish the fact that Jesus did come to Kashmir and that the Kashmiris are the descendants of "The Lost Ten Tribes of Israel." But the greatest and best proof of his having come to Kashmir and of having lived and died there is the presence of his tomb in Khanyar Street, Srinagar, Kashmir. This tomb which is called Rauzabal is variously known as the tomb of Yuz Asaf, of Nabi Sahib, of Shahzadah Nabi and even of ‘Isa Sahib. According to well-established historical accounts this Yuz Asaf came to Kashmir more than 1900 years ago and preached in parables and used many of the parables recorded in the Gospels. In certain books of history he is described as a Nabi (Prophet). Moreover, Yuz Asaf is a biblical name meaning 'Yasa‘, the gatherer' which is one of the descriptive names of Jesus as his mission was to gather the lost tribes of Israel into the Master’s fold as he himself says: 'And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also must I bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd' (John 10:‌16).

The following historical quotations also shed some light on this subject: 'The tomb is generally known as that of a Prophet. He was a Prince who came to Kashmir from a foreign land, and was engaged in preaching to the Kashmiris. His name was Yuz Asaf (Tarikhe A‘zami, pp. 82-85)……'Yuz Asaf wandered about in several lands till he reached a country called Kashmir. He travelled in it far and wide and lived and stayed there till death overtook him' (Ikmalud-Din, pp. 358, 359)… 'Kashmir legend, I have been told, contains reference to a Prophet who lived here and taught as Jesus did by parables and little stories that are repeated in Kashmir to the present day' (John Noel’s article in Asia, Oct. 1930)……The flight of Jesus, therefore, to India and his death in Srinagar is not foreign to the truth rationally or historically (Tafsirul-Manar, vol. 6).

For a better and fuller treatment, however, of this subject see "Masih Hindustan Mein" by Ahmad, the Promised Messiah. See also the well-known book, 'Nazarene Gospel Restored,' whose authors maintain that though officially crucified in A.D. 30, Jesus was still alive some twenty years after the Resurrection.

There could be no better description of the place where after his deliverance from an accursed death on the Cross, Jesus and his mother lived in peace and tranquillity and went to their eternal resting place than in the Quranic words, viz. 'elevated land of green valleys and springs of running water,' which is quite an apt description of the beautiful Valley of Kashmir. Nicholas Notovitch calls Kashmir "the Valley of Eternal Bliss." (close)

a. 7:33. (close)

2001. The fact that there exists a deep and subtle connection between the food that a person eats and his actions, good or bad, has now begun to be increasingly recognized by medical science. But Islam laid down as far back as 1400 years directions relating to food which possess great moral significance. The basic principle laid down by Islam in this regard is that as man must develop all his natural instincts and faculties, therefore he should partake of all kinds of food, except those that are likely to do him physical, moral or spiritual harm. The use of pure and good food produces healthy mental condition which in turn produces good and righteous actions. (close)

b. 21:93. (close)

2002. All the Messengers of God formed one brotherhood, as they came from the same Divine Source and their basic teachings were more or less identical and the object and purpose of their advent was also one and the same—to establish in the earth Unity of God and oneness of humanity. (close)

2003. After the death of a Prophet his followers generally begin to differ among themselves and split up into sects and factions, each sect regarding itself as his true followers and other sects as devoid of all truth. (close)

a. 70:43; 73:12. (close)

2004. Man is so constituted that he regards abundance of wealth and the power and prestige of his party as the measure of success and even as the only criterion of being the recipient of God’s favour. It is this common error that the present and the preceding verse seek to correct. (close)