The Roza Bal or Rouza Bal is a shrine located in the Khanyar quarter in downtown area of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, India. The word roza means tomb, the word bal means place.Ghulām Muhyi'd Dīn Sūfī Kashīr, being a history of Kashmir from the earliest times to our own 1974 – Volume 2 – Page 520 "Bal, in Kashmiri, means a place and is applied to a bank, or a landing place."B. N. Mullik – My years with Nehru: Kashmir – Volume 2 1971 – Page 117 "Due to the presence of the Moe-e-Muqaddas on its bank the lake gradually acquired the name Hazratbal (Bal in Kashmiri means lake) and the mosque came to be known as the Hazratbal Mosque. Gradually the present Hazratbal village grew ..."Nigel B. Hankin Hanklyn-janklin: a stranger's rumble-tumble guide to some words 1997 Page 125 (Although bal means hair in Urdu, in this instance the word is Kashmiri for a place – Hazratbal – the revered place.) HAZRI n Urdu Lit. presence, attendance. In British days the word acquired the meaning to Europeans and those associated with ..."Andrew Wilson The Abode of Snow: Observations on a Journey from Chinese Tibet to ... 1875 reprint 1993– Page 343 Bal means a place, and Ash is the satyr of Kashmir traditions."Parvéz Dewân Parvéz Dewân's Jammû, Kashmîr, and Ladâkh: Kashmîr – 2004 Page 175 "Manas means 'mountain' and 'bal' means 'lake' (or even 'place'). Thus, the ..." Locals believe a sage is buried here, Yuz Asaf, alongside another Muslim holy man, Mir Sayyid Naseeruddin.
The shrine was relatively unknown until the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, asserted in 1899 that it is actually the tomb of Jesus. This view is maintained by Ahmadis today, though it is rejected by the local caretakers of the shrine, one of whom said "the theory that Jesus is buried anywhere on the face of the earth is blasphemous to Islam."Times of India Tomb Raider: Jesus buried in Srinagar? 8 May 2010 "One of the caretakers of the tomb, Mohammad Amin, alleged that they were forced to padlock the shrine ... He believed that the theory that Jesus is buried anywhere on the face of the earth is blasphemous to Islam."
Building The structure stands in front of a Muslim cemetery.map It consists of a low rectangular building on a raised platform, surrounded by railings at the front and an entry. Within is a shrine to Youza Asouph.J. Gordon Melton The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena – Page 337 – 2007 "It stands in front of a Muslim cemetery in the Rozabal area of Khanyar, district of Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir. Inside is a wooden sepulcher surrounded by four recently installed glass walls. The sepulcher is empty, though, and the entombed personage ...." The building also houses the burial tomb of a Shia Muslim saint, Mir Sayyid Naseeruddin, a descendant of Imam Ali-Rida, 8th Imam of the Shia Muslims whose shrine is in Mashhad.
The structure was previously maintained by the local community, but is now maintained by a board of directors consisting of Sunni Muslims.Three Testaments: Torah, Gospel, and Quran edited by Brian Arthur Brown 2012, Rowman & Littlefield page 196 According to Kashmiri writer Fida Hassnain, a supporter of the Ahmadiyya views of Jesus, the tomb contains a rock carving that is said to show feet bearing crucifixion wounds and the body is buried according to what Hassnain considers are the Jewish tradition of directions and not according to the Islamic tradition. Academic reception of Hassnain's works has been highly critical - academics dismissing these claims includes Günter Grönbold, Wilhelm Schneemelcher, Norbert Klatt, Per Beskow, and Gerald O'Collins.Mark Bothe Die "Jesus-in-Indien-Legende" - Eine alternative Jesus-Erzählung? - 2011 - Page 30 "1.4.2 Fida Hassnain - Fida M. Hassnain wurde 1924 in Srinagar, Kaschmir, ..."
History
Buddhist and Hindu period There is no record of the shrine during Kashmir's Buddhist period, nor during the Kashmir Sultanate (1346–1586) when many Buddhist temples were converted into mosques, such as the Shankaracharya Temple or "Throne of Solomon."W. Wakefield The Happy Valley: Sketches of Kashmir and Kashmiri 1996 – Page 61 "Sketches of Kashmir and Kashmiri W. Wakefield. 6. 1. Originally a Buddhist temple, like the country, later on, it became Mohammedan, and was converted into a mosque; while the presence within it at the present day of this emblem of the worship of Siva, testifies that it has also been utilized by the followers of the Hindu religion."
Muhammad Dedamari, 1747 The shrine is first mentioned in the Waqi'at-i-Kashmir (Story of Kashmir, published 1747), also known as the Tarikh Azami (History by Azam)Khwaja Muhammad 'Azam Didamari, Waqi'at-i-Kashmir being an Urdu translation of the Persian MSS Tarikh-i-Kashmir 'Azmi, translated by Khwaja Hamid Yazdani), Jammu and Kashmir "Islamic" Research Centre, Srinagar, 1998, p. 117. by the Khwaja Muhammad Azam Didamari, a local Srinagar Sufi writer. Muhammed Azam states that the tomb is of a foreign prophet and prince, Yuzasuf, or in modern local Kashimiri transcription Youza Asouph. The name may derive from the Urdu "Yuzasaf" in the legend of Balauhar and Yuzasaf, Yuzasaf being a name for Gautama Buddha.Per Beskow in The Blackwell Companion to Jesus ed. Delbert Burkett 2011 "Only later did Ahmad's disciples invent the compromise that Jesus had been twice in India. Ahmad's primary source is a legend, known in the West as the tale of Barlaam and Josaphat. It was widely read all through the Middle Ages as an edifying... Yuzasaf as the principal character is named in Urdu, is helped on his way by the wise Bilhawar ... Ahmad divided Yuzasaf in two: Yuz Asaf. He declared that Yuz signified Jesus (who is not called by that name in any" Yuzasaf occurs as a spelling in the Rasail Ikhwan al-Safa of the Brethren of Purity and other sources.The March of India The Contemporary Society for Contemporary Studies Volume 7, No.1 1963 – Page 119 "Ibn Babuya of Qum incorporated an adaptation of it in his treatise, Kitabi Kamal al Din wa Itman ... Akbar al Furs wa'l Arab. The authors of Rasail Ikhwan al-Safa refers to Balauhar's conversation with Budasaf (given here in the form of Yuzasaf). Thus the legend of Sakya Muni Gautam, the Buddha, entered into the religious thought of Islam with results that have not yet been properly assessed by scholars. In the development of Muslim mysticism, India's contribution is unmistakable." David Marshall Lang (1960) notes that the connection of the Buddhist Yuzasaf with Kashmir in part results from a printing error in the Bombay Arabic edition referencing the legend of the Wisdom of Balahvar which makes its hero prince Yuzasaf die in "Kashmir" (Arabic: كشمير) by confusion with Kushinara (Pali: كوشينر), the traditional place of the original Buddha's death.John Rippon in Journal of Ecclesiastical History Volume 18, Issue 02, October 1967, pp 247–248, online "In The Wisdom of Balahvar Professor Lang assembled the evidence for the Buddhist origins of the legends of the Christian saints Barlaam and Josephat. He suggested the importance of Arabic intermediaries, showing that confusion of diacritical markings turned Budhasaf (Bodhisattva, the Buddha-to-be) into Yudasaf, Iodasaph, Yuzasaf and Josaphat. By a curious roundabout journey this error reappears in once Buddhist Kashmir where the modern Ahmadiyya Muslims, well known for their Woking mosque, claim that a tomb of Yus Asaf was the tomb of Jesus who died in Kashmir, after having been taken down live from the cross; though the Bombay Arabic edition of the book Balahvar makes its hero die in Kashmir, by confusion with Kushinara the traditional place of the Buddha's death."Trilok Chandra Majupuria, Indra Majupuria Holy places of Buddhism in Nepal & India: a guide to sacred places-1987 Page 295 "(Kushinara-Pali) (Place of Parinirvana) The Pali name of this town where Buddha entered mahaparinir-vana is Kushinara, while the Sanskrit name for it is Kushinagara, Kushinagri, Kushigrama, Kushigramaka, etc."
Court case 1770 A court case was brought mentioning the shrine in 1184AH/1770AD:Fida Hassnain, The Fifth Gospel, Dastgir Publications Srinagar, Kashmir, Printed by Leo Printers of Delhi, 1988 Pp. 222–223; confirmed by citation in Mark Bothe Die "Jesus-in-Indien-Legende" – Eine alternative Jesus-Erzählung? 2011 – Page 53.
Hassnain's translation follows Ghulam Ahmad in dividing the name of Yuzasaf, found in the Bilhawar and Yuzasaf tradition about Gautama Buddha, into two components, "Yuz Asaf."Per Beskow in The Blackwell Companion to Jesus Delbert Burkett 2011 p463 "During the transmission of the legend, this name underwent several changes: to Budhasaf, Yudasaf, and finally Yuzasaf. In Greek, his name is Ioasaph; in Latin, Josaphat, the name of one of the kings of Israel. Ahmad divided Yuzasaf in two: Yuz Asaf ..." Yuzasaf, Arabic Yūdhasaf or Būdhasaf, is derived from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva. The Sanskrit word was changed to Bodisav in Persian texts in the 6th or 7th century, then to Budhasaf or Yudasaf in an 8th-century Arabic document (from Arabic initial "b" ﺑ to "y" ﻳ by duplication of a dot in handwriting).Emmanuel Choisnel Les Parthes et la Route de la soie 2004 Page 202 "Le nom de Josaphat dérive, tout comme son associé Barlaam dans la légende, du mot Bodhisattva. Le terme Bodhisattva passa d'abord en pehlevi, puis en arabe, où il devint Budasaf. Étant donné qu'en arabe le "b" et le "y" ne different que ..."
Indo-Pakistan War, 1965 In the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and continuing Hindu-Muslim and Muslim-Muslim tensions and incidents the Ziarat Rozabal was desecrated and the grave dug up on 27 October 1965. Indian columnist Praveen Swami (2006) identified the culprits as a "stay-back cell" of Pakistani operatives, but this is not confirmed by other sources.Praveen Swami India, Pakistan and the Secret Jihad: The Covert War in Kashmir 2006 Page 70 "Then, on October 27, Cell members dug up the grave of a Saint interred at the Ziarat Rozabal, a shrine in downtown Srinagar."
Ahmadiyya claims
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
The founder of Ahmadiyya, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, inferring from the Verse 23:50 of the Quran, believed that the only occasion in the life of Jesus, son of Mary, that his life was seriously threatened, when an attempt was made to kill him by the cross. The Quran saying that "We...prepared an abode for them in an elevated part of the earth, being a place of quiet and security, and watered with running springs";George Sale Trans: "And we appointed the son of Mary, and his mother, for a sign: and we prepared an abode for them in an elevated part of the earth, being a place of quiet and security, and watered with running springs." [G Sale, page 261, the Quran 23:50] Ahmad says, may very fittingly apply to the Valley of Kashmir.The Quran 23:50, may apply to Kashmir. Book "Ijaz e Ahmadi (Zameema Nazool ul Mahih)", (p.23) (RK Vol 19, page 127 <ref>The Quran 23:50, may apply to Kashmir. Book 'Kashti e Noah' [the Ark of Noah], page 19, (footnote) and page 77 (footnote), Published 5 October 1902. [Ruhani Khazain, Volume 19, p.33]. </ref narration from Muhammad, as recorded in Kanz ul Ummal of Ali Muttaqi, 3/158, Hadith No. 5955, which says: "Allah revealed this to Jesus; O Jesus keep moving from one place to another lest they know you and tease you." is also referred to in support of this interpretation of Quran 23:50.</ref>