Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 212
212 Such reformers have constantly appeared in Is- lam. In our own age when the darkness of error had become intense, God raised a Prophet for the protection and restoration of the faith, and for the renewal for the benefit of mankind of the perfect example of the Holy Prophet sa. Hundreds of thousands have found new spiritual life through this Prophet. This is the only complete and perfect means of attaining to moral perfection. All other means are only subsidiary to it. The advantages of this are certain, but those of others cannot be entirely free from the possibil- ity of doubt and error. As, however, this means cannot be procured by man at his own will and pleasure, Islam has provided other means, by which a man might dis- card evil morals and acquire good ones. The second means provided by Islam for the moral improvement of man is the method adopted by it in classifying moral qualities into different grades and stages, with which I have already dealt, and which need not, therefore, be repeated here. The third means provided by Islam for this pur- pose is that it has explained the reasons why good moral qualities should be adopted and evil ones eschewed, so that men, knowing the real nature of these qualities, may of themselves be prompted to acquire good morals and to eschew evil ones. This has also been explained above. The fourth means provided by Islam for this pur- pose is that it has altered man’s point of view in respect of evil morals; it has substituted hope for despair. Many