Page:The young Moslem looks at life (1937).djvu/146

 was crucified in his place, while Jesus was taken up alive into heaven. That which is the very heart of the Christian faith is denied by the Moslem, who says it is not true and who finds it a stumbling-block to his understanding of Christianity. And "so the cross which to us is the most sacred symbol of our faith, is to them [the Moslems] merely the symbol of a tremendous hoax perpetrated on this believing world." By one modern sect of Moslems, the Ahmadiyas of India, this denial of Jesus' death on the cross takes another form. They are willing to admit that he was crucified, but they claim that he did not die on the cross. He only swooned. Then his disciples took him down from the cross, and by the application of a marvelous salve restored him to life. He then secretly left Palestine because of the persecution of the Jews, and went on a preaching mission to Kashmir, where he finally died. In fact, the Ahmadiyas claim to have discovered his very grave in Srinagar which they point out to inquiring visitors and which the writer has also seen with his own eyes!

The reason assigned by Moslems for calling the crucifixion of Jesus absurd is that since he was a prophet of God it was beneath his dignity to die the death of a common criminal. God would never allow that, and hence took him alive to heaven. Therefore they assert that Islam does greater honor to Christ than does Christianity.