Roza Bal

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. 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." The structure stands in front of a Muslim cemetery. 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. 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.