Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 203
203 like that of a new-born child, a clean slate on which no impression has yet been made. He shall next be asked to adopt the standard of ‘ Adal or equitable dealing in his conduct, and thus he will gradually attain to that stage of virtue for which he is fitted by his courage and capacities. If this method is not adopted, every scheme of moral reform is bound to end in failure. General moral sermons which do not keep in view the principles here enunciated, are of no value as means of effecting moral reform. One might as well start the education of an illiterate child by asking him to commit to memory the books prescribed for a post-graduate course, or to memorize the whole of the New Oxford Dictionary, in the fond hope that when he has performed this stupen- dous task he will become a truly learned man. The result will be that the child will probably go mad, or at least his mind will be left as blank as when he started. He will only have retained a few phrases in his memory, which he would be able to repeat like a parrot, without having the slightest notion of their meaning. In the same way, no moral improvement can be effected by exhorta- tions, however fine, of a general nature. A person who receives his moral instruction in this general manner will pick up his morals from his companions and his surroundings, and will derive no benefit from the moral instruction which is lavished upon him. The Holy Quran lays great stress upon this graduated course of moral training, so much so that it