Page 206 - Demo

202theirProphet.TheyembracedIslamwhenMuhammad(pbuh) came. The people of Harran in Syria are not -as they have been supposed to be- the remnant of the old Saba’ītes.In the promised lands, only three non-Muslim religions were recognized and tolerated by the Quran, namely, Judaism, Christianity, and Sabianism.It isstated that the Harranians pretended to be the remnant of the old Saba’ītes, and they were,therefore,permittedtopractisetheirpeculiarreligion without molestation by the TurkishGovernment.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 otherdivine persons of a triple god. The Christian belief that this same holy ghost, the third divine person, descendsfrom his(or her, orits) 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 repugnanttothe religioussentimentsof everyUnitarian, whether Jew or Muslim. Nothing could horrify a Muslim’sfeelingmorethanthebeliefthattheHolySpirit-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