Claims and Teachings - Ahmad The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 393
393 The truth is that the moral teaching of Jesus is nofc only not based on universal sympathy, for while it sympathises with the offender, it does not sympathise with the offended, but it is also conspicuous by another serious defect. As the law of Moses goes to one extreme by laying too much emphasis on retaliation, the teaching of Jesus goes to the other extreme by enjoining forgiveness and pardon of the offender in all cases. These codes do not aim at the development of all branches of the human tree. The Pentateuch nourishes one branch while the Gospel confines itself to the development of the other branch, both being cons- picuous by the absence of moderation in their teachings. As ifc is not expedient to punish the offender in every case, similarly it is inconsistent with a proper culture of all the human faculties to forgive on all occasions- It is for this reason that the Quran rejects both the extreme teachings and follows the golden mean by saying. *U ) ^ * &> ^ # ) j ^'* c ^ U&* <&** *&~ * ^ i* -, the punishment of an evil should be proportionate to the evil done, as the law of Moses teaches, and the teaching of forgiveness as given in the Gospel should be followed only when it is produc- tive of good results and when the offender is likely to profit by forgiveness and to reform himself. Otherwise the law to be followed is that which ie given in the Pentateuch. (Vol. VII. K. K. 1908;