Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 167
167 of savages. In comparing the moral teachings of differ- ent religions, therefore, we must have regard to the details and explanations of moral qualities, their sources and the means of acquiring them, and the sources of evil conduct and the means of avoiding it, etc. I desire at the outset to point out that there is a great deal of misapprehension and misunderstanding concerning the true conception of morals and moral qualities. This too operates as an obstacle in the way of instituting an accurate comparison between the teach- ings of different religions. There is a general notion that love, forgiveness, courage, etc. , are good moral quali- ties, and that anger, hate, severity, fear, etc. , are unde- sirable qualities. This is an entirely erroneous concep- tion, for all these are natural instincts and are neither good nor bad in themselves. Neither are love, forgive- ness and courage; nor anger, hate, severity and fear, moral qualities. They are merely the natural instincts of man—nay, even of animals. We find them among animals also, for they too love and forgive, exhibit courage, anger, fear and hate. But has any one ever said that a sheep or a cow or a horse possesses high morals? What we call high moral qualities in man are called instincts in animals. Why should this be so? Why is it that those things which are described as high morals in man are not given that name when found in the lower animals? The reason is obvious. We know that these natural instincts or tendencies are not in themselves good or bad morals, and that it is something else in man the operation of which turns them into moral qualities.