Source: Lankaweb

By I. Ahmad

 The above article (LW – 14.1.2012) clearly indicates the advent of another person in the spirit of Jesus Christ as his second advent. There is no mention about the post-crucifixion event of Jesus and it is important to highlight the hidden history of Jesus. There are historical records which support Jesus’ post-crucifixion journey to Kashmir.

While in Palestine Jesus had given sufficient indications, though in parables as was his habit, that in the future he would have to leave Palestine for another country.
As he was moving away from Palestine, the question arose, as to where Jesus should go. This has already been answered by Jesus himself; “I have been sent only to those lost sheep, the people of Israel” (Mathew: 15;24.)

“I have other sheep, that are not of this fold, I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”(John: 10;16.)
Obviously Jesus would now go in search of the lost tribes of Israel. In order to evade arrest he had to move away from the danger. Both the Jews and the Roman authorities were his enemies. He thus followed the same ancient route which was taken by the Jews during their historic dispersion.

Lost Tribes of Israel

If we glance at the history of the Jews, we find that they were divided into twelve tribes. They were: 1. Asher, 2. Benjamin, 3. Dan, 4. Ephraim, 5. Gad, 6. Issachar, 7. Judah, 8. Manasseh, 9. Naphatali, 10. Reuben, 11. Simeon, 12. Zebulun. All of them lived peacefully under Hazrat Dawood (David) and after his death under Hazrat Sulaiman (Solomon) who were both prophets of god as well as their kings. According to the Bible, their kingdom included all the nations from the river Euphrates to as far west as the city of Gaza in Philistia and the Egyptian border. After the death of King Solomon in 931 B.C, his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king. He was very cruel, so the people rebelled against him and his kingdom was reduced to the territory of Judah. Jerusalem was the capital of this southern kingdom. Only two tribes, Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to Rehoboam. The remaining ten tribes formed the northern kingdom of Israel, with its capital at Samaria and made Jeroboam as their king. There was continual warfare between the two kingdoms.

Jeroboam, according to the Bible, was an official in Solomon’s kingdom. He revolted against King Solomon and in order to avoid his wrath escaped to Egypt and stayed there until Solomon’s death. About two hundred years later, Assyrians under King Tiglath Pilser III (745-727 B.C) attacked the northern kingdom of Israel and captured many cities and took their people to Assyria as prisoners.

A few years later emperor Shalmaneser V of Assyria attacked the kingdom of Israel. King Hoshea of Israel surrendered and agreed to pay him tribute every year. But one year, king Hoshea sent messengers to the king of Egypt asking for his help and stopped paying the annual tribute to Assyria. When Shalmaneser learnt this, he reacted very strongly, invaded Israel and besieged Samaria, which lasted for three years. During this time emperor Shalmaneser died. His successor Sargan II continued the attack and in 722 B.C. destroyed the kingdom completely and carried almost all the remainder of the ten tribes to Assyria, Mesopotamia and parts of Media. Henceforth, these ten tribes were known as the Lost Tribes. Further dispersion of the ten tribes took place when the Babylonians destroyed the Assyrians.

Later, the Persians under King Cyrus crushed the Babylonian Empire in 539 BC. The Israelites thus suffered again and were scattered throughout the Persian Empire which at that time extended upto Afghanistan and India. It was these lost tribes of Israel that Jesus went in search of.

Jesus travels to the East.

It appears that Jesus left Galilee and followed the caravan route to Syria, where there was a large Jewish community settled in and around Damascus. There are indications that from Damascus Jesus traveled to Nisibain, a city about 450 miles from Jerusalem, which is on the route from Syria to Persia. A well-known Persian historical work known as Rauzat-us-Safa describes an account of the travels of Jesus to Nisibain.

It says, “Jesus, on whom be peace, was named the Messiah as he was a great traveler. With a woollen scarf on his head and woolen cloak on his body, and a stick in his hand, he wandered on foot from country to country and from city to city. He ate wild fruit and vegetation and at night stayed where he happened to be. In one of his travel, his companions bought a horse for him. He rode the horse one day but as he could not make any provision for the feeding of the horse, he returned it.

When he arrived in Nisibain, which was at a distance of several hundred miles from his home, he sent some of his disciples into the city to preach. There were current wrong and unfounded rumors in the city about Jesus and his mother. The Governor therefore arrested the disciples and summoned Jesus. Jesus preached to the people, healed some sick persons by his prayers and also showed some other miracles to them; as a result the King of Nisibain with all his armies and his people became his followers. (Rauzat-us-Safa was written in 835 A.H. (1417 A.D.) by Sir Muhammad bin Khawand and reprinted in Bombay in 1271 A.H. (1852 A.D.) pages 130 – 135)

Jesus in Persia

It seems that by going to Nisibain, Jesus intended to travel towards the east through Persia to Afghanistan.
During the course of his journey, Jesus seems to have passed through Herat, a town near the border of Afghanistan with Iran. This is evident from a brief account of a community called Dervishes who claim to be the followers of Jesus and are found even today, in and around Herat. In a book called ‘Among the Dervishes’, it is stated:

“The followers of Isa, son of Maryam – Jesus, son of Mary, generally call themselves Moslems and inhabit a number of villages scattered throughout the western area of Afghanistan whose centre is Herat…………..They believe in the doctrine that Jesus was the ‘son of God’ because he had attained that rank through his goodness and sacrifice. According to these people, Jesus escaped from the cross, was hidden by friends, was helped to flee to India…….. and settled in Kashmir where he is revered as an ancient teacher, Yuz Asaf. It is from this period of the supposed life of Jesus that these people claim to have got their message.” (‘Among the Dervishes’ by O.M. Burke published by Octagon Press Ltd, London, pages 107 – 109)

It appears that after leaving Nisibain, Jesus assumed the name of Yuz Asaf as he was sometimes known by this name in the countries he subsequently visited. Yuz is derived from Yusu meaning Jesus and Asaf means the gatherer or collector. Thus Yuz Asaf means Jesus, the gatherer of the lost sheep of Israel.

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