Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 197
197 on the other hand, no order or arrangement is kept in view, people of ordinary attainments and capacities will be unable to derive any benefit from it. Again, if it is a mere collection of imaginary and high sounding moral precepts, it will be of no practical use or benefit to mankind, except for the purpose of adorning a speech or impressing an audience. Mankind, therefore, is in need not only of a code of moral teachings, but of a practical and graduated code, which can lead men to moral perfection through a gradual process. I now proceed to explain the different grades or stages of moral qualities, good and bad, prescribed by Islam. Islam has laid down both categorical and detailed rules governing the moral conduct of man. It has di- vided good and bad moral qualities into different stages and grades, whereby each man can check and determine his own moral position and carve out a way for the acquisition of good qualities and the discarding of evil ones. In addition to this basic or fundamental classifica- tion which covers all moral qualities, Islam has de- scribed each moral quality in detail, and has laid down a perfect order which governs all these qualities. The fundamental classification of moral qualities is contained in the verse: 'God enjoins equity, beneficence and treatment like that between relatives; and forbids evils which