Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 170
170 good, and its total suppression or renunciation is more likely to injure our morals than to improve them. For instance, if we are told always to be kind and never to be severe, it would mean that teachers should never admonish their pupils, parents should never rebuke their children, and a Government should never punish those who rebel against it. Again, if we are taught never to be influenced by fear, it would mean that we must always persist in a course of conduct which we have once adopted, even if our error has become manifest to us, and should pay no heed to consequences and should not be afraid of incurring any loss or damage, whether relating to our temporal affairs or to our faith or belief. Can any reasonable person describe these as instances of good moral qualities? Morals mean the use of natural instincts and tendencies befitting the occasion, and not their use on all occasions regardless of their propriety or impropriety. On the other hand, the total suppression of these tendencies is both unnatural and harmful. Only that religion, therefore, can be said to have realized the philosophy of human conduct and morals, and to have given correct directions with regard to them, which clearly grasps the distinction pointed out above and lays down rules of conduct with reference to it and does not merely enumerate our natural instincts. So far as my knowledge extends, Islam alone, of all religions, has kept this distinction in view and has laid down correct rules of conduct. For instance, the Holy Quran says: