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The empty tomb on Easter morning and subsequent appearances of Jesus to his disciples and to
a few others have provided some novelists, or writer-scholars, with incentive to explore the possibility of his survival of
the crucifixion.1 This incentive has been furthered by the lack of documented examples of resurrection other than
that supposed for Jesus first by Paul and then by the early Christian church. Unknown to many, however, is that various independent
scholars have also postulated that Jesus survived the crucifixion for the same reasons. Also not well known is how widespread
and credible the traditions are that point to Jesus, after surviving the crucifixion, having traveled with a few others through
Anatolia and thence eastward to northern India and the Kashmir region. Here these topics will be summarized and consolidated
so that open-minded, questioning Christians can better explore the roots of their faith and understand how thoroughly Christian
authorities over the centuries have ignored, suppressed and belittled the unthinkable evidence that could overturn their faith. Although the various Gospel accounts of Jesus' appearances to his disciples following the crucifixion
contain a large number of inconsistencies and discrepancies, this is only to be expected if the Gospel writers, especially
the first one, needed to edit an original account of Jesus having survived the crucifixion into an account in which he had
appeared in a resurrected form. The various scholars' hypotheses will then vary due to the differing weights they may attach
to the different Gospel accounts, and due to their differing religious backgrounds. The Ahmadiyyas. This non-orthodox branch of Islam was founded in the 19th century by Hazrat
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, Pakistan. His century-old book, available on line, provides the basics of their evidence and understanding that Jesus survived
the crucifixion. By now, their followers, several hundred thousand strong, are centered in London, Berlin and Los Angeles
as well as in Pakistan. M. G. Ahmad carefully researched the traditions that support Jesus' trek across Asia; this prompted
him and some scholarly followers to postulate how Jesus survived the crucifixion. Briefly, they posit that Jesus lapsed into
a deep swoon while on the cross, that the spear thrust missed his heart, that he received medical attention while in the tomb,
and that his exit from the tomb was aided by Essenes.2 These are all plausible suppositions, except, it turns out, that Essenes were in on it. Underlying this and other survival hypotheses to be discussed is the knowledge that death on
the cross was designed to be long in coming -- up to several days, while Jesus is said to have been taken down from the cross,
with legs unbroken, relatively early on the same day. Further, it is often pointed out that Josephus has written of an instance
in which he recognized three Jewish prisoners who had undergone crucifixion but had not yet died. He obtained permission from
Titus to take them down from their crosses and administer aid; one of them survived.3 The Ahmadiyya literature also points out that the "sign of Jonah" prophecy made by Jesus is better
fulfilled if he had survived the entombment of three days and nights, since Jonah survived his experience within the interior
of the "big fish." The Ahmadiyyas' supposition that Essenes were involved in Jesus' recovery stems from their assumption
that the "angels in white" in Jn 20:12 or the men (or man) in white in Lk 24:4 (or Mt 28:3, Mk 16:5 or Jn 20:12) were Essenes
due to the belief that Essenes wore white garments. Of course, this is not consistent with the reactions of the reported witnesses
to having seen non-human entities clad in dazzlingly white apparel. Karl Bahrdt, ca. 1780. This scholar postulated, in brief, that Jesus survived a feigned death,
with Luke the physician having supplied drugs to Jesus beforehand. Jesus was supposed to have been an Essene, and so also
Joseph of Arimathea, who resuscitated him. On the third day, when Jesus came forth, his appearance scared the guards away
and he later lived in seclusion with the Essenes.4 Here there is much to criticize -- all, in fact, but the likelihood that Joseph of Arimathea was
involved in Jesus' recovery. 5 Karl Venturini, ca. 1800. Venturini proposed that Jesus had been associated with a secret society,
which wished him to become a spiritual Messiah. Though they had not expected him to survive the crucifixion, one of them,
dressed in white, heard some groans from inside the tomb. He frightened away the guards and retrieved Jesus, who used up his
remaining energy in appearing to his disciples and afterwards retired permanently from sight. This appears even more far-fetched
than Bahrdt's version. Heinrich Paulus, 1828. A more detailed version was postulated by Paulus. Preceding the earthquake
of Mt 27:51, dense fumes were supposedly released that caused difficulty in breathing and made it appear that Jesus had prematurely
died on the cross. Somehow Jesus survived in the tomb without any help. Similar to Venturini's hypothesis, Paulus had Jesus
use up his remaining energy in the following days and then disappear into an orographic cloud at the end of his final meeting
with the disciples on the mountain -- the Ascension. Again, however, there is no shortage of problems with this scenario.6 Nevertheless, the father of modern theology, F.E.D. Schleiermacher, endorsed a form of this hypothesis
in the early 1830s.7 Ernest Brougham Docker, 1920. He proposed that on the cross, Jesus had lapsed into a state of
catalepsy or self-hypnosis, that the spear thrust to the side may not have occurred, and that within the tomb Jesus was aided
by Joseph and Nicodemus. Later, the gardener of Jn 20:15 supplied Jesus with fresh clothing.8 Docker was a district court judge as well as a student of the New Testament, and offered an interesting
discussion of how the bystanders at the crucifixion may have mistakenly thought Jesus dead while Joseph discovered otherwise.
This scenario seems more realistic than the preceding ones, though surely Joseph or Nicodemus could have supplied the clothing. Robert Graves & Joshua Podro, 1957. These two independent scholars pictured Jesus as having
collapsed into a coma while on the cross, with the spear thrust having failed to pierce the lungs. The outflow of "blood and
water" (Jn 19:34; Mt 27:49b, according to manuscripts "B" and "Aleph") indicated to them that Jesus had not died, a point
also made by the Ahmadiyyas. One of the guards at the tomb is supposed to have entered in order to steal the valuable ointment
smeared on the shroud in which Jesus had been wrapped; finding him alive, he informed their sergeant, who let Jesus go. That
evening Jesus showed himself to the disciples, but from then on became a wanderer, living in hiding.9 I find this guard scenario much less realistic than that of secret medical attention supplied
within the tomb. The Talmud of Jmmanuel (TJ), 1978. This is the document discovered in 1963, translated
in substantial part from Aramaic into German by 1974, and destroyed in June of that year due to its heresies for Christianity
and Judaism.10 Because of its heresies, lack of extant originals, and association with a UFO contactee case,
scholars cannot deal with it seriously and it remains largely unknown to them. In it, Jmmanuel (Jesus) lapses into a very
deep trance, probably samadhi,11 on the cross and only Joseph of Arimathea notices he is not dead after the spear thrust. After
enshrouding him and carrying him to his tomb, he quickly seeks out Jmmanuel's Hindu friends for help because of their skill
in medicines and herbs. They utilize a second entrance to the tomb known only to Joseph so as not to arouse suspicions, especially
after the guards are posted. After three days (not just two) Jmmanuel is helped out very early in the morning via the secret
entrance and continues to recover rapidly. Just how he was able to recover so quickly is not explained, and one is left with
the possibility that his miraculous healing powers could be applied not just to others but to a considerable extent to himself
as well. During his subsequent meetings with his disciples, he warned them not to disclose his survival to others. This may
well be history, not hypothesis, but for those who insist that the TJ must be a literary hoax, it is the hypothesis of an
unknown hoaxer. J.D.M. Derrett, 1982. Prof. Derrett allowed that Jesus had lapsed into unconsciousness or a
self-induced trance during the crucifixion, being taken for dead by bystanders and by the Roman soldier who stabbed him in
the side. He chose the likelihood that his heart and lungs had not been pierced, and assumed that Jesus subsequently self-revived
within the tomb. Basing other assumptions on the Gospel of Mark, he inferred that no Roman guard had been set, but rather
that the young man of Mk 16:5 (and possibly of Mk 14:51) was a self-appointed guard. Some noise inside the tomb supposedly
caused this guard to check inside, whence he found Jesus in poor shape but alive. Jesus is assumed to have muttered a few
things to this guard to relay to the disciples, and died not long afterwards from his injuries. His disciples supposedly cremated
his body because they considered him the Paschal Lamb, meant to be sacrificed.12 A half dozen objections to this hypothesis have been raised.13 B. Thiering. This scholar pictured Jesus as having been given snake poison on the cross, which
rendered him unconscious. He recovered from this and was helped to escape from the tomb by friends. Ultimately he settled
in Rome.14 I have been unable to see any merit in her arguments: she pictures the entire ministry of Jesus
as presented in the Gospels as actually having occurred in the Dead Sea area rather than the Sea-of-Galilee area, including
the fishing industry. She regards nearly everything in the Gospels as a coded version of what actually occurred, with the
code to be deciphered by the "pesher" method. Her use of this method makes repeated use of the Dead Sea Scrolls in which she
interprets the "Wicked Priest" as Jesus. I am disappointed to have had to dismiss her work as summarily as have the "mainstream"
scholars. The resuscitation hypotheses up until 1835 were roundly rejected by David Friedrich Strauss,
and for nearly a century this put a damper on further such hypotheses. His criticism was largely in the form of ridicule over
the idea of a "half-dead" being creeping out from the grave "weak and ill," yet managing to instill in his disciples "the
impression that he was a Conqueror over death and the grave."15 He assumed Jesus had not received any medical attention while in the tomb. However, several of
the survival hypotheses do postulate such medical assistance, and are therefore immune to Strauss's objection. Yet, his rejection
is sometimes referred to by scholars even today, when necessary, as if it were germane. Strauss was the first scholar to emphasize
the possibility that after the crucifixion the disciples so longed for their Lord that they invented the appearances. Thus
he simply dismissed all testimony that Jesus had risen from the grave and physically appeared to his disciples by pointing
out inconsistencies in the various accounts, rather than exploring reasons why such inconsistencies would be expected. A prominent medical-theological treatment of the crucifixion concluded that if Jesus did not
die on the cross, he must surely have died from the spear thrust. 16 However, this conclusion was based most noticeably on pre-1980 analyses of the Shroud of Turin
and the assumption that this shroud is genuine. The Ahmadiyyas have also utilized the Shroud of Turin to support their opposing
conclusion, but they could point to the outflow of "blood and water" from the spear thrust as indicating that Jesus had not
died, as from asphyxiation, prior to that action. Although the authors of this attempted debunking were Christians, and must
have believed in the reality of Jesus' miraculous cures of lepers, the lame, blind, deaf and other afflicted, they never questioned
whether his spiritual healing power might not extend to his own body. In summary, if the most logical components from the various resuscitation hypotheses are synthesized
in a consistent manner, it is seen that one like the TJ's story could emerge that survives the objections of attempted debunkers.
This is especially true if Jesus' healing powers could have applied also to himself. This may seem more plausible to many
than that the Gospels' stories of Jesus' post-crucifixion appearances were totally made up and that resurrection is a viable
concept. Hence it is reasonable to treat seriously the traditions indicating that in years following the crucifixion, Jesus
and a small party traveled about Anatolia and western Asia. Some of these Jesus-in-Asia traditions to be presented have been pseudo-debunked by the Swedish
scholar, Per Beskow.17 Careful inspection of one topic, however, indicates that his tactic was to ignore the most pertinent
pieces of evidence, distort much of the rest, emphasize irrelevancies, attempt to discredit persons who provide first- or
second-hand information, and otherwise treat the evidence piece-meal rather than cumulatively.18 Beskow dismissed the Jesus-in-Asia traditions primarily by calling them legends whose Asian sources
"do not carry any weight at all."19 This appears to be a cultural put-down induced by theological commitment or fear that serious
investigation of the topic would be loathsome in the eyes of Western colleagues. Jesus within Islam. Certain Islamic historians felt no need to suppress these traditions, since
to them Jesus was only a mortal prophet, albeit a very important one. Moreover, Islam in general doesn't even believe that
Jesus underwent the crucifixion, but that someone substituted for him on the cross. The Persian historian Mir Kawand names
a site close to Damascus called Maqam-Isa or Mayuam-i-isa, which means "the place where Jesus lived," according to independent
scholar Holger Kersten.20 Kersten traveled through western Asia in 1973-74 visiting various libraries and researching these
traditions. The Talmud of Jmmanuel confirms this by indicating that Jmmanuel (alias Jesus) went to Damascus following
his final meeting with his disciples, and lived there incognito for two years.21 This included the time when Saul (Paul) had his conversion experience on the road to Damascus
southwest of the city.22 Three of these historians wrote of Jesus, Mary and Thomas (Judas-Thomas, presumably) having
traveled to Nisibis (Nasibain) near Edessa, now Urfa in southeast Turkey just north of Syria, where Jesus preached to the
king. Mir Muhammad bin Khawand Shah Ibn-i-Muhammad, also known as Mir Khawand bin Badshah, in 1417 wrote of the journey of
Jesus away from the Jerusalem area to Nisibis. In the former, Jesus and Mary first go to Syria; in the latter, they and Thomas
have some confrontations with the king of Nisibis.23 Faqir Muhammad, around 1830, wrote, among other things, that on these journeys Jesus and Mary
traveled on foot, and that Jesus preached to the king of Nisibis. 24 According to Holger Kersten, the story is prefixed by this king having been ill and having requested
Jesus to come and cure him; Jesus sent Thomas on ahead, and Thomas cured the king by the time Jesus and the rest of his party
arrived. 25 Iman Abu Jaffar Muhammad bin Jarir at-Tabri in 1880 wrote of the tradition that Jesus and party
had to depart quickly from Nisibis because of hostility that had arisen against them there. 26 In most of the Muslim writings Jesus is referred to as Yuz Asaf. The meaning and derivation
of the name is uncertain. "Yuz" is thought by some to mean either "Jesus" or "leader," and "Asaf" to refer to those he cured
of leprosy. Thus one interpretation is that Yuz Asaf means "leader of those he cured of leprosy."27 An alternate interpretation will be supplied later. It is understandable that in his travels after
the crucifixion Jesus would have remained incognito, especially for the first few years and in Anatolia, and when necessary
have supplied a name for himself other than what he had been known by in Palestine. However, ample descriptions are supplied
that leave no doubt that the man known as Yuz Asaf is to be identified with Jesus -- his close association with his mother
Mary and with Thomas is one of these. In Iranian traditions recounted by Agha Mustafai, it is said that Yuz Asaf came there from the
west and preached, causing many to believe in him.28 His teachings are said to have been similar to those of Jesus. However, if he had taught reincarnation,
29 one would not expect that his surmised teachings on that subject would have been carried along
by Muslim writers any more than by Christian writers, since Islam also does not embrace the concept of reincarnation. Within northwest Afghanistan, centered in the city of Herat, an explorer of Sufism, O. M. Burke,
came across a sect of some 1000 people who are devotees of Yuz Asaf, whom they also knew as Isa, son of Maryam.30 Their tradition includes Isa, the prophet from Israel, having escaped the cross, traveled to India
and settled in Kashmir. He was (again) regarded as possessing the power to perform miracles. The sect's leader at that time
(1976), Abba Yahiyya (Father John), could recite the names of the succession of their leaders and teachers back through nearly
60 generations to Yuz Asaf himself, when he had stopped off there along the Silk Road. Although Burke referred to this sect
as Christians, since they revere Isa as the Son of God, they cannot of course be considered Christian in any orthodox sense. Within the Holy Quran there are many verses discussing Jesus, and often Mary also, but these
either deal with the Nativity or his Palestinian ministry, or contain no definite geographical and temporal context. A possible
exception, however, is Surah 23:50, a translation of which reads:
In eastern Pakistan, next to Kashmir, there is further support for these traditions. There one
may find the tomb of Mary on a hilltop just outside a small town called Murree or Mari. The grave is called Mai Mari da
Asthan, which means "the final resting place of Mother Mary."31 Her tomb faces east-west, as in Jewish custom, rather than north-south as in Islamic custom. Thus
some evidence does exist to indicate that Mary made it at least this far in their travels and had traversed with Jesus over
much beautiful high country of Afghanistan and Pakistan, in support of the Quran verse that hints at this. Farther east, in Kashmir near Srinagar, there is a monument in stone: the Throne of Solomon,
bearing four inscriptions, the last two of which are most interesting though they were mutilated following the conquest of
Kashmir by the Sikhs in 1819. However, they were described by the early Muslim historian of Kashmir, Mulla Nadiri, in 1413.
An English translation of his Persian script is:
Some written and oral tradition assert that after death Yuz Asaf was entombed in the old section
of Srinagar, in Anzimar in the Khanjar (or Khaniyar) quarter.34 Tradition has it that the tomb, about which a small building was long ago constructed, has been
under constant watch by a succession of guardians ever since Yuz Asaf's supposed burial there. On the floor next to his grave
it was noted by Hassnain that much candle-wax had accumulated, and upon carefully scraping it away at one corner of the tombstone,
he discovered a crucifix and a rosary that had long been embedded. In addition, he found two footprints carved into the stone
underneath the candle wax and mud with the marking of a crucifixion scar etched into each print.35 This is further indication that Yuz Asaf was known to have been Jesus Christ. Each year hundreds
of Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists visit the tomb (known as Rozabal, or the "sacred tomb") to pay homage -- a nearly
unique example of a unity within world religions. There is a report, however, that Yuz Asaf was actually buried not at the noted tomb site in
Srinagar's old town, but on a hillside not far away. This comes from the UFO contactee Eduard Meier, the co-discoverer and
editor of the Talmud of Jmmanuel, who in turn received the information from one of his contacting extraterrestirals.
Those who have studied this document and realize its genuineness may wish to treat this report seriously. Within the ruins of the Indian city of Fatehpur Sikri, located some 15 miles west of Agra, there
is an interesting inscription on a wall. It was emplaced on the portal of a mosque around 1601 by the emperor Akbar the Great,
a Muslim convert of sorts, and reads,
It may be speculated that one of those who accompanied Yuz Asaf alias Jesus on his travels was
a disciple-writer who continued to document Jesus' experiences and ministry until his own death, after which the writings
ceased or were taken over by another until Jesus' death. If so, Jesus may have made provision for someone to carry a copy
of the writings back on the Silk Road to the Palestinian area soon after his death, where it eventually came into the custody
of the compiler of the Gospel of Matthew.37 This then would have been the source that Bishop Papias had learned about and referred to as the
Logia, and the reason for the Gospels having come into existence relatively late.38 A supportive legend behind this speculation comes from the mention by Eusebius that the well known
Alexandrian, Pantaenus (late second century), reported that during his trip to India he had learned that one of the twelve
apostles had earlier preached there to the Indians from a Hebraic writing identified as the Gospel of Matthew. 39 Since the Gospels as they became known by mid-2nd century had not yet been created while any apostles
were still alive, this suggests that the preaching Pantaenus reported had come from a pre-Matthean source written in India
-- the Logia. The early parts of these Logia would have resembled the Gospel of Matthew. 40 The first Muslim writer known to have included the tradition of Jesus having traveled to India
in his youth with the tradition that he, as Yuz Asaf, had traveled in southwest Asia in the latter half of the first century,
was the 10th-century historian, Shaikh Al-Said. 41 Jesus within Hinduism. The Hindu literature known as the Bhavishya Maha Purana contains
some ten verses indicating that Jesus was in India/Kashmir during the reign of King Shalivahan, which has been placed within
39 to 50 C.E. The king is said to have encountered Jesus at a spot about 10 miles northeast of Srinagar where there is a sulfur
spring.42 During the king's inquiries of who he was, Jesus is reported to have replied that he was Yusashaphat
(interpreted as Yuz Asaf by K. N. Ahmad), and that he had become known as Isa Masih (Jesus the Messiah). K. N. Ahmad dates
the writing of these verses to 115 C.E. Although details of the verses may indicate that they received later editing, their
basic theme -- that Christianity's Jesus had been there in Kashmir -- persists. Much more recent is a statement by Jawarhar Nehru in a 1932 letter to his daughter, Indira,
where he wrote, "All over Central Asia, in Kashmir and Ladakh and Tibet and even farther north, there is a strong belief that
Jesus or Isa travelled about there. Some people believed that he visited India also."43 This testifies to the persistence of the oral tradition. Jesus within Buddhism. It has been suggested that within Mahayana Buddhism the legendary Bodhisattva
Avalokitesvara developed out of Jesus having been in Tibet and India. 44 For one reason, this bodhisattva is thought to have reached his earliest known (legendary) form
around the second or third century C.E., which timing is appropriate for the hypothesis.
For another reason, the origins of the Avalokitesvara cult have been traced by Professor John Holt of Bowdoin College, Brunswick,
Maine, to northwest India as well as to the second century. For still another reason, given the impact that Jesus made in just a couple years of ministry
in Palestine, due in no small measure to his ability to work miracles and prophesy, it would not be surprising that his further
ministry during many post-crucifixion years of traveling outside of Palestine under different names would also have received
acclaim, at least within oral tradition. The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is a candidate for this because he became the top
one or two of all the numerous bodhisattvas in importance and degree of respect and worship accorded. 47 Within Buddhist thought, the successive Dalai Lamas are believed to be reincarnations of Avalokitesvara. However, the primary reason is that he is sometimes portrayed with a small circular marking
on the hand, which could represent a crucifixion scar.48 A similar marking, usually interpreted as the Buddhist wheel of life, is mentioned in a third-century
writing to be imprinted upon the soles of his feet.49 The mythologization of Avalokitesvara became so extensive that he has even been considered the
creator of the world. 50 This is surprisingly similar to Jesus being professed as part of the Godhead who was with God
the Creator from the beginning. If both creation strories are considered to be myths, however, it is not surprising that the
same man could have inspired both. If Avalokitesvara should indeed be another name for Jesus, it is an example of a legend as yet
known to only a few. But if it was known to be more than just a legend to some Buddhists at the time the name Avalokitesvara
was bestowed, it is understandable that they would not wish to antagonize Christians by insisting Buddhism call him by the
same name that Christianity uses. Kersten has advanced the idea that the name Yuz Asaf may actually have a Buddhist derivation.
If Jesus had called himself a knower of truth, or others had recognized this, then in Sanskrit this phrase would be "bodhi
sattva," or "budasaf" essentially, Kersten suggests.51 He pointed out that in Syrian, Arabic and Persian, "Budasaf" would read like "Judasaf" or "Yudasaf,"
since their letters J and B are nearly identical. The latter two words are sufficiently similar, then, that this could be
the real etymology behind "Yuz Asaf." The tradition that Jesus, under whatever name, had been to the Kashmir region in years after
the crucifixion is known to some of the lamas. In 1922 Swami Abhedananda, a well known monk and disciple of Sri Ramakrishna
of the Barahanagar Temple, near Calcutta, learned of this from a lama at Himis monastery, Ladakh.52
Jesus within Roman paganism. It is only natural to inquire if a similar legend might not exist
within Roman paganism that would point back to Jesus as having been its source. There is indeed such a legend -- the man known
as Apollonius of Tyana, but he was more than a legend. He is supposed to have been born around the commencement of the Christian
era and to have died in 97 C.E. His life is described within a biography written in Rome by the Greek philosopher, Philostratus,
around 220 C.E.53 If the many other traditions that collectively indicate Jesus had spent years traveling after
the crucifixion contain truth, it would not be surprising that he would sometimes have been confronted by a Roman official
and, to be safe, would have needed to supply himself with an alias. A Greek name with pagan overtones -- Apollonius -- would
no doubt have made it easier for him to travel within Anatolia and elsewhere within the Roman empire. In his biography Philostratus credits Apollonius with the same kinds of powers that the Gospels
depict for Jesus: healing, casting out of spirits, and foreknowledge. One of his healings was particularly suggestive, where
he brought a girl back to life who had recently died, very much as with the daughter of Jairus in Matthew 9:23-25. And at
one point Philostratus went so far as to allude that Apollonius would actually be alive when his followers would instead think
he had risen from the dead.54 This connection between Apollonius and Jesus did not go unnoticed by influential Christians.
Eusebius knew of it, and denounced those who wrote favorably about this Apollonius. 55 Fortunately, however, Philostratus's biography managed to survive, though an antecedent's books
about Apollonius did not.56 It would seem that Philostratus had taken care to ensure in his book that any connection between
Apollonius and Jesus would be indirect and not too apparent. For example, he never mentioned Apollonius as residing in, or
traveling to, the land of Israel. On his journeys Apollonius is said to have been accompanied not only by his primary companion,
Damis, but by "two servants he had inherited" -- one a shorthand writer and the other a secretary.57 These two could easily correspond to Jesus' disciple-writer and to his mother, respectively. Damis
would then correspond to Judas-Thomas, and we may note a similarity between Thomas's Greek name "Didymus" and "Damis." On one trip Apollonius and his party travel to Babylon, where the king had fallen ill. Apollonius
attends him and brings about his recovery.58 This story is somewhat reminiscent of Faqir Muhhamad's account of Thomas having cured the king
of Nisibis, if allowance is made for Philostratus to have altered the geographical location. On a longer trip eastward to Taxila (in Pakistan) Apollonius and his party are said to have
visited King Gundaphorus for several days.59 That visit is reminiscent of one to the same king reported in the Acts of Thomas.60 However, Philostratus found much to say about Apollonius and Damis there while in the Acts
of Thomas Jesus only puts in fleeting apearances at King Gundaphorus's court, as if its writer knew that were he to write
anything further it would target his Gnostic document for oblivion by defenders of Christianity. Analysts have had great difficulty with the biography of Apollonius in trying to determine which
parts are historical and which are fiction. However, Apollonius himself was definitely a historical figure: There is an Apollonius website devoted entirely to this man and the problem he posed for early Christianity. The tradition relayed by Ireaneus. Besides the clues within the Gospels of the empty tomb and
post-entombment appearances, which are consistent with Jesus later having had an extended ministry outside of Palestine, a
tradition consistent with this was made known by a prominent church father. Irenaeus, who lived until about 180 C.E., and
who was a staunch quasher of heresies, nevertheless attested to a tradition that elders of the church who were conversant
with the disiple John in Asia had affirmed that Jesus had reached old age -- beyond 50.62 The crux of it reads as follows:
"The statement" or "information" evidently is the assertion that Jesus had reached the stage
of old age and was still teaching, and was no longer the young 30 he had been at the crucifixion (suffering). The clause "even
as the Gospel and all the elders testify" reads like a scribal addition that attempts to explain this away in reference to
Jn 8:56, which strangely implies that Jesus, during his Palestinian ministry, was nearing the age of 50. The preceding paragraph,
not reproduced here, also reads like a scribal addition designed to ameliorate the impact of the above statement; it talks
of Jesus, during his ministry, being of all ages, and taking on the age of each person who was listening to him. It is not known how Irenaeus assimilated this information into his belief in the resurrection.
The editors of Ante-Nicene Fathers called it an "extraordinary assertion," but could only imply that Irenaeus had somehow
been grossly in error. It should be clear that if the statement had merely involved the fact that Jesus had been a teacher
for one, two or three years until the day he was crucified, this is not anything Irenaeus would have bothered to report, as
Christians already knew that. The mention of Asia in the above report probably refers to Asia Minor, or Anatolia. Many of the foregoing legends and traditions may be unfamiliar to the reader because they have
been systematically ignored and suppressed in the West. However, when they are viewed together as a whole, we see a very consistent
picture that is trying to tell us that Christianity at a very early stage was directed onto the wrong path, first by Paul
and then by the early churches which Paul so heavily influenced. The right path instead tells us much more of just how remarkable
this man, known to us today as Jesus, actually was. This is not to say that some fraction of the strange tales one may read
about Jesus are not fictions, but to say that a holistic perception is needed to separate probable fact from probable fiction.
The practice of assuming that any tradition is false if it conflicts with one's own particular theological commitment, without
having first carefully examined it with a truly open mind and in a comprehensive manner, cannot be condoned within true scholarship
or true science. 1. See, e.g., Hugh J. Schonfield, The Passover Plot (London: Hutchinson, 1966); Donovan
Joyce, The Jesus Scroll (Melbourne, Australia: Ferret Books, 1972); and Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln,
Holy Blood, Holy Grail (New York: Harper and Row, 1983) 357. 2. See Khwaja Nazir Ahmad, Jesus in Heaven on Earth, (Woking, England: Woking Muslim Mission
& Literary Trust, 1952) 196-199. See also several relevant articles in Truth about the Crucifixion (London: The
London Mosque, 1978). 3. See, for example, David Friedrich Strauss, A New Life of Jesus, vol. 1, 2nd Ed. (London:
Williams and Norgate, 1879) 410-411. 4. See William Lane Craig, The Historical Argument for the Resurrection of Jesus during the
Deist Controversy (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1985) 392-393. 5. James W. Deardorff, Jesus in India (Bethesda, MD, International Scholars Publications,
1994) 138-139. 7. Craig, Historical Argument, 400. See also Karl Barth, The Theology of Schleiermacher,
ed. D. Ritschl, transl. G. Bromiley (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1982) 101-102. 8. E. B. Docker, If Jesus Did Not Die on the Cross: A Study of the Evidence (London: Robert
Scott, 1920), 20-21, 32-33, 49. 9. R. Graves and J. Podro, Jesus in Rome (London: Cassell & Co., 1957) 12-13. Much of
the book is devoted to the possibility that Jesus traveled to Rome after the crucifixion, which I find to be based on only
one very shaky bit of evidence. 10. Talmud Jmmanuel, ed. Eduard A. Meier (Schmidrüti, Switzerland: 1978). See also the present
web site: http://www.proaxis.com/~deardorj/index.htm.
11. Samadhi is a trance-state of meditation whose deepest form is the same as being "out-of-body."
According to Janet Lee Mitchell, Out of Body Experiences: A Handbook (New York: Ballantine Books, 1981) either exhaustion,
a life-threatening situation or the purposeful intent of an experienced practitioner can induce it. In this state, no pain
inflicted upon the body is felt, not even from a spear thrust, and it is not surprising that both the soldiers involved in
the crucifixion and the bystanders would have mistakenly thought Jmmanuel was dead. Even one of the Gospels indicates that
this sort of thing can happen (Mk 9:26): the onlookers of Jesus' healing of the paroxysmic boy thought he was dead after he
had become "like a corpse," until Jesus took his hand. THE FOUNDER OF THE 1989 Reproduced under the responsibility of RAM Service. This is an English version of an Urdu treatise written by the Holy Founder of the Ahmadiyya
Movement in Islam, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908). The theme is the escape of Jesus from death on the cross, and his
journey to India in search of the lost tribes of Israel. Christian as well as Muslim scriptures, and old medical and historical
books including ancient Buddhist records, provide evidence about this journey. Jesus is shown to have reached Afghanistan,
and to have met the Jews who had settled there after deliverance from the bondage of Nebuchadnezzar. From Afghanistan Jesus
went on to Kashmir, where other Israelite tribes had settled. There he made his home, and there in time he died; his tomb
has been found in Srinagar. Jesus in India is an English version of Masih Hindustan mein, an Urdu treatise
written by the Holy Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835 - 1908). The main thesis expounded in the treatise is Jesus' escape from an ignominious death on the
Cross and his subsequent journey to India in quest of the lost tribes of Israel whom he had to gather into his fold as mentioned
in the New Testament. Abundant evidence has been furnished from Christian as well as Muslim Scriptures, old medical
books and books of history, including ancient Buddhistic records, to illustrate the theme. Starting upon his journey from Jerusalem and passing from thence through Nasibus and Iran, Jesus
is shown to have reached Afghanistan, where he met the Jews who had settled there after their deliverance from the bondage
of Nebuchadnezzar. From Afghanistan Jesus went to Kashmir, where some Israelite tribes had also settled. He made
this place his home and here he died. His tomb has been traced and found in Khanyar Street, Srinagar. In the section dealing with the evidence adduced from ancient Buddhistic records, Hazrat Ahmad
has resolved a question which, owing to its difficult nature, has for a long time confounded many a Western writer. These writers have been baffled by the striking resemblance that exists between Christian and
Buddhistic teachings and between the life events of both Jesus and Buddha as revealed in their respective Scriptures. Some of these writers hold the view that Buddhistic teachings must somehow have reached Palestine
and been assimilated by Jesus in his own sermons. But there is absolutely no historical proof to support this theory. A Russian traveller named Nicolas Notovitch stayed for quite some time with Lamas in Tibet and
had their sacred books translated for him. He is of the opinion that Jesus must have come to Tibet before the crucifixion
and gone back to Palestine after having imbibed Buddhistic teachings. This also is a mere statement unsupported by reliable
historical evidence. Repudiating both these views, Hazrat Ahmad writes that Jesus came to India not before the event
of the Cross but after it and that it was not he who borrowed Buddhistic teachings but the followers of Buddha who seem to
have reproduced the entire picture of the Gospels in their books. According to Hazrat Ahmad Jesus also visited Tibet during his travels in India in search of
the lost tribes of Israel. He preached his messages to Buddhistic monks, some of whom were converted Jews. The followers of
Buddha were deeply impressed by his teachings and took him to be the manifestation of Buddha and their Promised Teacher. With
faith in him as their Master, they mixed his teachings with their own records and ascribed it all to the Buddha. Ample evidence
in support of this is furnished from ancient Buddhistic records. Masih Hindustan mein was written in 1899 and it marks the end of an era in which
for centuries Muslims and Christians had believed in the ascension of Jesus to Heaven. It being the first book ever written
on the subject with such a rational approach, the book produced a most profound impact. Its arguments were broadcast and in the past half-century it has achieved remarkable success
in divesting Jesus of false appurtenances of divinity and in presenting him to the world merely as a divine prophet as he
actually was. In Muslim circles the effect has been so marked that the Rector of the Al-Azhar University in
Cairo issued a Fatwa (verdict) that according to the Holy Quran Jesus had died a natural death. Its influence on the
Christian mind has also been greatly disturbing. As stated in the Introduction and also at the end of the book, Hazrat Ahmad intended to write
a second part in which he would have given, besides some additional proofs of Jesus' journey to India, a comparative evaluation
of the teachings of Islam and Christianity with some cogent arguments in proof of the truth of Islam as well as of his own
claim to be the Promised Messiah. Though no other book among his writings bears this title, yet Hazrat Ahmad has discussed thoroughly
all these issues with many more important ones concerning the truth of Islam, of his own claim and of the death of Jesus in
quite a number of books which he wrote after the above-mentioned book. The present English translation was made by Qazi Abdul Hamid, formerly editor of a weekly, The
Sunrise, Lahore, in which it appeared serially during 1938-39. It was first published in book form in 1944 by Nashr-o-Ishaat,
Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya, Qadian. Besides others who have assisted us in any way in the production of this book, our thanks are
due to Mr. Mauloud Ahmad Khan, a former Imam of the London Mosque, who went to great pains to gather relevant quotations from
the original books which have been referred to by Hazrat Ahmad in support of his thesis. The quotations have been attached
to the book in the form of an appendix. Vakil-ut-Tabshir, Tahrik-i-Jadid, Rabwah, Pakistan MAY 1962 IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, Lord! Judge between us and our people with truth; I have written this book, so that, by adducing proofs from established facts, from conclusive
historical evidence of proved value and from ancient documents of non-Muslims, I might remove the serious misconceptions which
are current among Muslims and among most Christian sects regarding the earlier and the later life of Jesus (on whom be peace)
- misconceptions, the dangerous implications of which have not only injured and destroyed the conception of Divine Unity,
but the unwholesome and poisonous influence of which has for long been noticed in the morals of the Muslims of this country.
Spiritual maladies, i.e., want of good morals, evil thoughts, callousness, want of sympathy, are spreading among most Islamic
sects, being the result of beliefs in unfounded stories and anecdotes of this kind. Human sympathy, pity and love of justice,
humility and humble-mindedness - all good qualities - are disappearing day by day, as if they will soon bid a last farewell
to this community. This callousness and this immorality make many a Muslim appear no better than the beasts of the jungle.
A Jain or a Buddhist is afraid of and avoids killing even a mosquito or a flea, but, alas! there are many among us Muslims
who, while they kill an innocent man or commit wanton murder, are not afraid of the powerful God, who rates human life higher
than that of all the animals. What is this callousness and cruelty and want of sympathy due to? It is due to this - that from
their very childhood, stories and anecdotes and wrong views of the doctrine of Jehad are dinned into their ears and inculcated
into their hearts, the result being that gradually they become morally dead and cease to feel the heinousness of their hateful
actions; nay, rather, the man who murders another man unawares and thus brings ruin to the murdered man's family thinks that
he has done a meritorious deed; or rather, that he has made the most of an opportunity to win favour with his community. As
no lectures or sermons are delivered in our country to stop such evils - and if there are any such lectures they have an element
of hypocrisy in them - the common people think approvingly of such misdeeds. Accordingly, taking pity upon my own people,
I have compiled several books in Urdu, Persian and Arabic, in which I have stated that the popular view of Jehad prevalent
among Muslims, that is, the expectation of a bloody Imam, full of spite and hostility for other people, is a texture of false
beliefs inculcated by shortsighted Ulema; otherwise, Islam does not allow the use of the sword for the Faith; except in the
case of defensive wars, or in the case of wars waged to punish a tyrant or to uphold freedom. The need of a defensive war
arises when the aggression of an adversary threatens one's own life. These are the three kinds of Jehad permitted by the Shariat,
and, apart from these three kinds, there is no other kind of war which is permitted by Islam for the propagation of the Faith.
I have, in short, spent a large sum of money on such books, and have published them in this country and in Arabia and Syria
and Khurasan, etc. But, by the grace of God, I have now discovered powerful arguments which are meant to eradicate these unfounded
beliefs from the hearts of the people. I have clear proofs, circumstantial evidence of a conclusive character, and historical
evidence the light of whose truth holds out the promise that soon after their publication there will be brought about against
such beliefs a wonderful change in the hearts of the Muslims. And I hope - I am sure - that after these truths have been comprehended,
there will flow out of the hearts of the righteous sons of Islam the sweet and beautiful springs of lowliness, humility and
mercy, and that there will come about a spiritual change which will have a wholesome and a blessed influence on the country.
I am also sure that Christian investigators and all other people who hanker after the truth and thirst for it, will benefit
from my books. And the fact just now stated by me, that the real object of this book is to correct the wrong beliefs which
have become part and parcel of the creeds of Muslims and Christians, requires a little explanation which I set out below.
Let it be known that most Muslims and Christians believe that Jesus (on whom be peace) went
alive to the heavens; both these people have believed for a long time that Jesus (on whom be peace) is still alive in the
heavens, and will sometime in the latter days come down to the earth. The difference in their views, i.e. the view of the
followers of Islam and that of the Christians, is only this, that the Christians believe that Jesus (on whom be peace) died
on the Cross, was resurrected, and went to the heavens in his earthly body, seated himself on the right hand of his Father,
and will come to the earth in the latter days for judgment; they also say that the Creator and the Master of the world is
this Jesus the Messiah and no one else; he it is who, in the latter days of the world, will descend to the earth with a glorious
descent to award punishment and reward; then, all who will not believe in him or his mother as God, will be hauled up and
thrown into hell, where weeping and wailing will be their lot. But the aforesaid sects of Muslims say that Jesus (on whom
be peace) was not crucified, nor did he die on the Cross; on the other hand, when the Jews arrested him in order to crucify
him an angel of God took him away to the heavens in his earthly body, and he is still alive in the heavens - which, they say,
is the second heaven where is also the prophet Yahya, i.e. John. Muslims, moreover, also say that Jesus (on whom be peace)
is an eminent prophet of God, but not God, nor the son of God, and, they believe that he will in the latter days descend to
the earth, near the Minaret of Damascus or near some other place, supported on the shoulders of two angels, and that he and
Imam Muhammad, the Mahdi, who will be already in the world, and who will be a Fatimite, will kill all the non-Muslims, not
leaving anyone alive except those who will forthwith and without any delay become Muslims. In short, the real object of the
descent of Jesus (on whom be peace) to the earth, as stated by Muslim sects known as Ahl-i-Sunnat or Ahl-i-Hadith called Wahabis
by the common people - is that, like the Mahadev of the Hindus, he should destroy the whole world; that he should first threaten
the people to become Muslims and then, if they persist in disbelief, massacre them all with the sword; they moreover say that
he is alive in the heavens in his earthly body, so that, when Muslim powers become weak, he will come down and kill the non-Muslims
or coerce them on pain of death to become Muslims. Regarding the Christians especially, the divines of the aforesaid sects
state that when Jesus (on whom be peace) comes down from the heavens he will break all the Crosses in the world, do many a
cruel deed with the sword, and inundate the world with blood. And, just as I have stated, these people, i.e. the Ahl-i-Hadith
etc. from among the Muslims, are enthusiastic about their belief that a short time before the coming down of the Messiah there
will appear an Imam from the Bani Fatima whose name will be Muhammad, the Mahdi. He it is who will be Khalifa and King of
the time, and as he will belong to the Koraish, his real object will be to kill all non-Muslims except those who readily recite
the Kalima. Jesus (on whom be peace) will come down in order to help him in his work; and although Jesus himself (on whom
be peace) will be a Mahdi - nay, a greater Mahdi - yet, because it is essential that the Khalifa of the time should be a Koraish,
Jesus (on whom be peace) will not be the Khalifa of the time; the Khalifa of the time will be that same Muhammad, the Mahdi.
Muslims say that these two together will fill the earth with the blood of man, and they will shed more blood than has ever
been shed before in the history of the world. No sooner will they appear than they will start this bloody campaign; they will
neither preach nor plead, nor show any sign. And they also say that although Jesus (on whom be peace) will be like an adviser
or a lieutenant of Imam Muhammad, the Mahdi, and although the reins of power will be in the hands of the Mahdi only, Jesus
(on whom be peace) will instigate Hazrat Imam Muhammad, the Mahdi, to massacre the whole world and will advise him to adopt
extreme measures, i.e. he will make amends for the humane teaching which he had given to the world before, namely, 'not to
resist evil,' and, being struck on one cheek, 'to turn the other cheek also.' This is what Muslims and Christians believe regarding Jesus (on whom be peace), and while it
is a great error to call him, as the Christians do - a humble man - God, the beliefs of some of the followers of Islam, among
whom is the sect called Ahl-i-Hadith also known as Wahabis, regarding a bloody Mahdi and a bloody Messiah, are affecting their
morals very badly, so much so, that on account of their bad influence their dealings with other people are not based on honesty
and good will, nor can they be truly and completely loyal to a non-Muslim Government. All reasonable men will realise that
such a belief, namely, that non-Muslims should be subjected to coercion, that they should either forthwith become Muslims
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![[Map of Probable Route of Jesus (on whom be peace) During His Travels to India]](http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/1340/map90-17.gif)