Malfuzat – Volume II — Page 213
213 of God Almighty that He has kept Islam free from such corrupt doctrines and has demonstrated that every aspect of its teaching is a manifestation of perfection and possesses a miraculous nature. In the teaching of Moses, peace be upon him, there was great emphasis on ret- ribution—a tooth for a tooth, an ear for an ear, an eye for an eye. In the teaching of the Messiah, peace be upon him, emphasis was put on not resisting evil treat- ment. So, if someone were to slap a person on one cheek they were taught to turn the other as well; if someone compels a person to go one mile, one should go with them for two miles; if someone demands from a person their shirt, one should give them one’s cloak as well, and so on and so forth. However, I would like to see whether any priest actually follows this teaching. Anyone can slap a priest on his face and see. Indeed, instead of turning the other cheek, the priest will drag the man to court, and think of any means—even by falsehood and deceit—to have the man punished. However, Islam has not given such a teaching; in fact, it has given a teaching that is the life of this world, and human beings naturally act upon it. This teaching is: 1 ِ اهلل وَ اَصْلَحَ فَاَجْرُهٗ عَلَى فَمَنْ عَفَا سَيِّئَةٍ سَيِّئَةٌ مِّثْلُهَا جَز ٰٓٔوُا Meaning, the recompense of an evil is the like thereof, but if someone forgives when it is not inappropriate to do so, and the purpose of this forgiveness is ref- ormation, then such a person will have their reward from Allah. For example, if a thief is released, he will only become bolder and then become a robber. Such a person deserves to be punished. Let us assume there were two servants. If one servant was such that a light reprimand was enough to embarrass them and move them to reform themselves, it would be inappropriate to punish such a person. If the other servant, however, was intentionally mischievous, forgiving him would only make him worse, and so he deserves to be punished. Now do tell us, is the more appropriate teaching the one taught by the Wise Quran, or the one put forth by the Gospel? What does the law of nature demand? It calls for differentia- tion and consideration that is appropriate in each individual case. The teaching that forgiveness ought to be for the purpose of reformation is a matchless teaching indeed. It is this teaching that ultimately the civilised world must follow. It is by acting on this very teaching that man develops their faculty of rational judgement, reflection and insight. In other words, this teaching has in- 1 ash-Shura , 42:41