78 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [February, 1914. 



twelve of them and one of them was Judas Iacariot. He 



* 



became rejected, and made over his Master to the Jews, as 

 has been mentioned in the Miratu-l-Qads . After the Hazrat 

 had ascended into Heaven, another was, by His orders, ap- 

 pointed in the room of Judas, so that the number should be 

 complete. 



One year 1 after our Lord had ascended into Heaven, He 

 one day descended and ordered that Saul, whose name was 

 changed to St. Paul, should receive the lofty title of Apostle, 



as will shortly be stated. This man did such great things that 



in our books his name is always mentioned next to that of St. 

 Peter. The word Saint is always prefixed to their names {Le. 

 the Apostles); this word means "Pure," and "Arrived at 

 God." Though in the Christian books not much is said about 

 the Apostles, either because the learned men of the Faith were 

 always encompassed with troubles, and so were unable to write 

 everything, or because what they wrote was destroyed in the 

 turbulence of strife and opposition, yet what remains is suffi- 

 cient to testify to the greatness which they had received from 

 Hazrat Jesus. I have regarded this as sufficient, and have 

 written accordingly. Prince Solomon has said that a wise son 

 is the glory of his father. Also an object of Hazrat Jesus 

 was that oue of His marvels should be the purifying and doing 

 good to His disciples. We have ascertained that H.M. 

 [Jahangir] is a lover of Hazrat Jesus our Lord, and is favourable 

 to the design of this well-wisher [the author]. So in the hope 

 that this account of the wondrous deeds of these twelve per- 

 sons, who were at once the children and the disciples of the 

 Messiah, will be favourably received by H.M. the Shadow of 

 God, I have ventured to write it, and hope that with the help 

 of Maulana 'Abdu-s-Sitar it mav be translated into a fortunate 

 hour, from Feringhl [i.e. Portuguese] into Persian, and may be 

 blessed by H.M. and other readers and hearers.* 



1 U nlr u dah mah. Unintelligible. Is it one year and ten months f 

 * [This wish, that the book might be translated into Persian, was 

 natural in the Portuguese original, but it sounds curious after the trans- 

 lation was completed. — H. H.] 



