Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 169
169 happens to have been injured, stays near it, and looks at it affectionately so as clearly to convey the impression that it is expressing its sympathy with the other. Again; we sometimes see animals licking each other in affec- tion. Instances may be multiplied to show that all these instincts are to be found in them. Such teachings, there- fore, amount to no more than directions that we should obey our natural instincts, and have no greater moral value than injunctions to the effect that we should eat when we are hungry and should drink when we are thirsty and should sleep when we feel fatigued and worn out. Surely, we do not stand in need of religion to tell us all this. Our nature is a sufficient guide in these matters. A religion which merely repeats these things proves its own futility, for this means that it is not aware of the true conception of morals. Can any one point out a country where the people do not love, or sympathize with one another in distress, or forgive the faults of others, or are not charitable to the poor? Or, is there a single individual in existence, who does not exhibit most of these qualities? Then, how does a religion improve matters by telling us to do these things? If, however, by telling us that we should be kind, forgiving, brave, etc. , a religion means that we should never exercise severity, or inflict punishment, or exhibit fear, it may have a claim to novelty, but its teachings would be unnatural. We are, by nature, endowed with these qualities, and it is impossible for us to renounce them, nor can a renunciation of them improve our morals, for all that nature has bestowed on us is for our