Jesus In India — Page 142
132 JESUS IN INDIA death two thousand of the most intelligent and the wisest from among them and ordered the rest to leave his kingdom and Syria. Some of them left Nebuchadnezzar's territory under a chief and went away to the Ghor hills. Their descendants settled down in that place, multiplied at a fast rate, and people began to designate them as Beni Israel, Beni Asif and Beni Afghan. On page 64, the same author says that reliable records like Tārikh-i-Afghani, Tarikh-i-Ghori, etc. , contain the assertion that the Afghans are mostly Beni Israel and some of them are of Coptic origin. Moreover, Abul Fazl also states that some Afghans regard themselves as of Egyptian origin, the reason given by them being that when the Beni Israel returned to Egypt from Jerusalem, this tribe, namely, the Afghans migrated to India. On page 64 Farid- ud-Din Ahmad writes about the title 'Afghan' that some writers are on record having said that after exile (from Syria) they used always to 'bewail and cry' in remembrance of their home. That is why they were named Afghans. ¹ Sir John Malcolm is also of the same opinion; vide History of Persia, vol. 1, p. 101. On page 63, is given Mahabat Khan's statement that: 'As they are the followers and relations of Solomon, they are, therefore, styled Sulaimanis by the Arabs. On page 65, it is written that investigations of almost all ori- ental historians show that the Afghan people's own view is that they are of Jewish origin. Some of the present day historians have adopted the same view and probably regard it as true. . . and this custom that the Afghans adopt the Jewish names is without a 1. Meaning that the title 'Afghan' is a combination of two Persian words aah (lament) and faghan (cry of pain). [Publisher]