Italy: Khalifa of Islam views Turin Shroud

According to Ahmadiyya Muslim's viewpoint, Prophet Jesus escaped the crucifixion, spent a few days with his apostles who cured him with a special ointment and then he traveled to India. He died in Kashmir, India, where his tomb is located.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Opinion
Source & Credit:  Richmond Islam Examiner
By Ayesha Noor | April 30, 2010

His Holiness Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad returned to London earlier this week. Today in the Friday sermon he spoke about his recent European tour. He visited France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. His tour proved to be very successful all around. On his way from Italy to Switzerland he visited the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, northern Italy to view the Turin Shroud.

According to Ahmadiyya Muslim's viewpoint, Prophet Jesus escaped the crucifixion, spent a few days with his apostles who cured him with a special ointment and then he traveled to India. He died in Kashmir, India, where his tomb is located. This theory was presented in a book called "Jesus in India" by the Promised Messiah Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in 1899. The Turin shroud only strengthens the view point of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

His Holiness remained in the church for quite sometime. He viewed the shroud closely and spoke to the administrators of the exhibition and the researchers working in the Church. He explained the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's point of view to them. He elucidated the events of the Crucifixion of Jesus. He said that it could very well be the cloth in which Prophet Jesus was wrapped after crucifixion but it definitely is not the cloth in which he passed away.


Significance of the Turin Shroud:

According to Wikipedia, "Some contend that the shroud is the cloth placed on the body of Jesus Christ at the time of his burial, and that the face image is the Holy Face of Jesus. Others contend that the artifact postdates the Crucifixion of Jesus by more than a millennium. Both sides of the argument use science and historical documents to make their case.The image on the shroud is much clearer in black-and-white negative than in its natural sepia color. The striking negative image was first observed on the evening of May 28, 1898, on the reverse photographic plate of amateur photographer Secondo Pia, who was allowed to photograph it while it was being exhibited in the Turin Cathedral. The Catholic Church has neither formally endorsed nor rejected the shroud, but in 1958 Pope Pius XII approved of the image in association with the Roman Catholic devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus."

According to Mr. Faber-Kaiser, a scholar of comparative religion:

...After seven years of investigations concerning the shroud that covered (Christ's) body, many scientists have come to the conclusion that Jesus was buried alive. The experts affirm that the Holy Shroud preserved in Turin lay on a crucified body that suffered exactly the same passion as Jesus, but state that this person did not die on the cross, but was buried while still alive. The twenty-eight bloodstains on the shroud prove this. The investigators assure us that a corpse wrapped in a shroud could not bleed in that manner. Jesus was buried alive, unless a second Jesus existed, and he was made to suffer the same agony. (Jesus Died in Kashmir - Published in 1976).

Some people rejects the idea of Turin Shroud to belong to Jesus. Turin Shroud as well as Tomb of Jesus have both become controversial issues.

The shroud of Turin is expected to be viewed by 2 million people including Pope Benedict XVI.

Read original article here: Khalifa of Islam views Turin Shroud

--Editorial update by Ahmadiyya Times

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Ayesha Noor, an economics graduate, has worked in various Muslim communities in three different countries. A member of the 'media watch,' her expertise include Islam, women's rights, and religious minorities. Leave a comment for Ayesha with your thoughts and suggestions on this article or about this topic.