Youza Asaf, Youza Asaph, Youza Asouph, Yuz Asaf, Yuzu Asaf, Yuzu Asif, or Yuzasaf, ( ur, ) are Arabic and Urdu variations of the name Josaphat, and are primarily connected with Christianized and Islamized versions of the life of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

found in the legend of '' Barlaam and Josaphat''. According to Ahmadiyya thought, the name Yuz Asaf is of Buddhist derivation, and possibly from ''Yusu'' or ''Yehoshua'' (Jesus) and ''Asaf'' (the Gatherer).

Overview

According to Ahmadiyya thought, the Yuz Asaf was a prophet of the ''ahl-i kitab'' (People of the Book) whose real name was ''Isa'' – the Quranic name for

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

. The prophet Yuz Asaf came to Kashmir from the West (Holy Land) during the reign of Raja Gopadatta (c 1st century A.D) according to the ancient documents held by the current custodian of the tomb. According to '' Tarikh-i-Kashmir'', a history of Kashmir written between 1579–1620, Yuzu Asaf was a Prophet of God who travelled to Kashmir from a foreign land. In 1747, a local Srinagar Sufi writer,

Khwaja Muhammad Azam Didamari Khwaja Muhammad Azam Kaul Didamari (died 1765) was a Sufi Kashmiri writer in the Persian language. Khawaja means "master", Kaul is a surname meaning pundit, Didamari means from the Didamar quarter of Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the ...

, stated that the

Roza Bal The Roza Bal, Rouza Bal, or Rozabal is a shrine located in the Khanyar quarter in downtown area of Srinagar in Kashmir, India. The word ''roza'' means tomb, the word ''bal'' mean place. Locals believe a sage is buried here, Yuz Asaf, alongs ...

is a shrine to a foreign prophet and prince, Youza Asouph. Indologist Günter Grönbold in his '' Jesus in Indien'' assesses that the shrine was previously Hindu, before the Islamization of Kashmir and is possibly the grave of a Buddhist or Hindu saint rather than a Sufi, but, in any case, has no connection with Jesus or Christianity.

Ghulam Ahmad and Ahmadiyya belief

Having stumbled upon research by Russian explorer Nicolas Notovitch,

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Mirzā Ghulām Ahmad (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as the promised Messiah and Mahdi—which is the metapho ...

, the founder of the

Ahmadiyya Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...

movement, identified Yuz Asaf as a name that

of Nazareth may have assumed following his crucifixion and migration from Palestine. Ahmad further identified the

shrine located in

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its ...

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

as the tomb of Jesus. Drawing on Kashmiri oral traditions, as well as the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...

Hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...

and accounts by explorers, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad postulated that Jesus travelled to

, where he settled and married a woman called Maryam (Mary), and that Maryam bore Yuz Asaf children, before he died aged 120 years. He discusses this belief in the book '' Jesus in India''. More recent Ahmadiyya writers assert that the

tomb of Mary ; hy, Սուրբ Մարիամ Աստվածածնի գերեզման), is a Christian tomb in the Kidron Valley – at the foot of Mount of Olives, in Jerusalem – believed by Eastern Christians to be the burial place of Mary, the mother of Jesus. ...

, the mother of Jesus is in Murree, Pakistan. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's use of various Hindu and Islamic sources have been deemed to be misunderstandings or distortions by various scholars of Buddhism including the Swedish scholar Per Beskow in ''Jesus in Kashmir: Historien om en legend'' (1981), the German indologist Günter Grönbold, in '' Jesus in Indien - Das Ende einer Legende'' (1985) and Norbert Klatt, in ''Lebte Jesus in Indien?: Eine religionsgeschichtliche Klärung'' (1988). His views are considered heretical by the majority Sunni Islamic scholars, who assert that Jesus is alive in heaven. Muslims living near the shrine believe Yuz Asaf was a

Sufi saint Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

References

;Sources {{DEFAULTSORT:Asaf, Yuz Year of birth missing Year of death missing Srinagar Kashmiri Sufi saints Ahmadiyya Swoon hypothesis Jesus in Islam Indian Sufi saints

Overview

Ghulam Ahmad and Ahmadiyya belief

See also

References