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THE JAINA GAZETTE
(e) It is even stated that Yus Asaf was an Israelite fugitive who came from Syria. It is easy to see that such a fugitive could be none but Jesus, for the time of the two is the same. Moreover the life of no other Israelite prophet is attended with the mysterious circumstances with which the life of Jesus is attended. (f) Besides being called a Nabi, Yus Asaf is called Shahzada or a prince, and this also identifies him with Jesus. (g) The teachings of Yus Asaf have striking resemblance with those of Jesus. Some of the parables in the two are quite identical. (h) Still more striking is the circumstance that prophet Yus Asaf gives the name of Bushra (Hebrew and Arabic for Gospel) to the word he preached as in the following passage from the Ikmal-ud-Din : " Then he began to compare the tree to Bushra (Gospel) which he preached to the people, and he likened the spring of water to the wisdom and knowledge which he possessed, and the birds he compared to the people that swarmed round him and accepted his religion. The identity in parables and names of the books preached by Jesus and Yus Asaf clearly shows that Yus Asaf was no other than Jesus. (i) The book of Yus Asaf was translated into almost all the European languages, and the Christian world has always held him in great honour. Even a Church was raised in honour of his name in Sicily. (i) Christian writers have tried to identify Yus Asaf with Budha, asserting that the word is a corruption of Budhisatva, which was first changed into Josaphat and then Yus Asaf. But the mere possibility of the corruption of one word into an entirely different word is no proof. Besides this, the remains of Yus Asaf lie at Srinagar while those of Budha have been discovered elsewhere, which conclusively shows that Buddha and Yus Asaf are two entirely different persons.
The Messiah promised to the Israelties was the Messiah of all the Israelite tribes, ten of which had settled in the East in Afghanistan and Cashmere. Therefore it was necessary that he should have gone to them. The following evidence supports the assertion that these two people represent the ten lost tribes of Israel. (1) The Afghans unanimously claim to be of an
Israelite descent. Prejudice against the Jews is so strong that Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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