Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 303
303 save the good name of his country from the stain of oppression. At the same time he is actuated by the true love of humanity, for he is only trying to enforce the observance of the principle, 'Live and let live. ' (3) The third cause of international misunderstanding is the idea of national superiority. The Holy Quran says: 'Let not a people despise another, haply the lat- ter may turn out to be better than the former. ' 146 Again, it says, 'We cause the periods of adversity and prosperity to revolve among the different peo- ples. ' 147 A nation that is advancing towards prosperity should not, therefore, despise another nation, and thus sow the seeds of hostility; it may be that the nation that is despised today may lead the others tomorrow. International disputes cannot be put an end to till it is realized that mankind are as one people, and that prosperity and adversity are neither the hereditary, nor the permanent, attributes of a people. No people has had a uniform record of prosperity or adversity, nor can any people be secure, in the future, against an adverse change in its circumstances. The volcanic forces that raise a people to the highest pinnacle of glory or pull it down to the lowest depths of ignominy have not ceased to work, and nature pursues its designs as actively to- day as it has done through centuries past. 146 Al- H ujur a t, 49:12. 147 A l-‘Imr a n, 3:141.