Page 203 - New English Book L
P. 203

202

their Prophet. They embraced Islam when Muhammad (pbuh)
came. The people of Harran in Syria are not -as they have
been supposed to be- the remnant of the old Saba’ites. In
the promised lands, only three non-Muslim religions were
recognized and tolerated by the Quran, namely, Judaism,
Christianity, and Sabianism. It is stated that the Harranians
pretended to be the remnant of the old Saba’ites, and they
were, therefore, permitted to practise their peculiar religion
without molestation by the Turkish Government.

     The Christian conception of the Holy Spirit is
entirely different from the Islamic and the Jewish. The
Holy Spirit is not a divine person with divine attributes
and functions not belonging to this or that other divine
persons of a triple god. The Christian belief that this
same holy ghost, the third divine person, descends from
his (or her, or its) heavenly throne at the bidding of every
priest -in his daily celebration of some sacrament - to
consecrate its elements and change their essence and
qualities into some supernatural elements is extremely
repugnant to the religious sentiments of every Unitarian,
whether Jew or Muslim. Nothing could horrify a
Muslim’s feeling more than the belief that the Holy Spirit
-always at the intervention of a priest- changes the water
of baptism into the blood of a crucified god and blots
out the so-called original sin; or a belief that the magic
operation upon the material elements of the Eucharist
transubstantiates them into the blood and body of an
incarnate god. These beliefs were absolutely opposed to
the teachings of the Old Testament and a falsification
of the real doctrine of John and Jesus . The Christian
assertion that the Holy spirit at the incantations of a
priest, fills certain individuals and sanctifies them, but
does not guarantee their impeccability and ignorance,
is meaningless. We are told that Hananiah (Ananias)
and his wife Shapirah were baptized, which is to say
   198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   208