Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 86
86 'Neither the flesh nor the blood of your sacri- fices reaches God, but it is the righteous motive underlying them that reaches Him. ' 45 That is to say, your sacrifices will benefit you only if you fulfil the object underlying them, but if you fail to do that you will merely have killed an animal as you slaughter animals for the purposes of food and you will gain nothing by it. This will show that the significance of sacrifice in Islam is totally different from that in other religions and that Islam has preserved the object which underlies this symbol, whereas other religions have lost sight of it and have invented new objects for it. The Means whereby Man can Attain to God and the Practical Realization of this Object in this Life The fourth question under the first object of religion is whether man can attain to God and whether there is a religion which claims that this is possible under its teachings. It is obvious that this is a vital question, and the real value of a religion depends upon the answer to it. Every person who is guided by his natural instincts, and who does not wish purposely to ignore them must feel that the only function of religion is to point out the way to God and to lead man to Him. All other questions are subsidiary to it. If a religion explains the attributes of God, emphasizes His unity, exhorts its followers to love Him sincerely, 45 Al- H ajj, 22:38