By the time Mohammed was twenty-five years old, he was a buyer and seller of goods (a merchant). As he traveled, he kept meeting men called Haneefs. The Haneefs were men who taught about the one true god, and recited scriptures and religious stories that had been handed down through the generations. They believed that the descendants of Ishmael had lost the religion of Abraham and they sought to restore it.
Mohammed befriended these Haneefs, especially those who knew the Tawrat (Arabic meaning for the Torah), the Zaboor (Arabic for the Psalms), and those who knew the Injil (which is the gospels of the Christ).
Alongside paganism, Christianity was also known in Arabia. But back then, Christianity in Arabia was distorted. A Christian sect who called themselves the Mariamites, believed and taught that the Trinity was God, Jesus, and Mary. They even had wooden carvings of Mary. Mohammed believed that this was Christianity. So when he developed the Qur’an, this was his perception of Christianity. Therefore, even Muslims today, who do not know the truth about Christianity, think that Christians worship God, Jesus the prophet, and Mary. They call us polytheists who do not worship the one true God. There is no concept of the Holy Spirit. When they hear the name, “Holy Spirit”, many think this is speaking of Gabriel.
Mohammed became a Haneef and so he traveled with the other Haneefs. They asked each other questions, and would often retreat together and spend long periods of time in solitude, sometimes even for days. And they loved it. They were all true seekers of the one God, the lost religion of Abraham. All the Haneefs, and even all Arab Muslims today, long to hear the voice of God directly, to be given the answers of life.
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