Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 198
198 concern the individual alone and are not manifest, and those that are manifest and offend the feelings of others, and those that injure others. He admon- ishes you, so that you may be rightfully guided. ' 109 In this verse virtues and vices are divided into three classes respectively, and these six classes cover the whole field of moral qualities. The first stage of virtue is ‘Adal or equitable dealing, that is to say, a man should deal with others as he is dealt with by them, and should repay the good done to him with at least an equal measure of good. He should also think equitably of others, that is, he should think of others as he desires that they should think of him. He should not repay good with evil nor expect from others good in return for evil. The word ‘ Adal however, excludes all such evils as are absolutely undesirable, for instance, abuse, falsehood, adultery, etc. ‘Adal permits man to mete out punishment to an of- fender in proportion to his offence, but does not permit him to seek to punish him (the offender) by doing in his turn an evil act similar to the one done by the latter, for vice is a poison, and a man who takes poison himself in order to punish another for having taken poison, com- mits an act of folly and not of revenge. The next higher stage of virtue is I h s a n , i. e. , be- neficence, that is to say, a man should try to repay the good that is done to him by another, whether that good affects property, body, or mind, by a larger measure of 109 Al-Na h l, 16:91.