Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 200
200 no such feeling of doing good to others. On the con- trary, there is a feeling of relief and pleasure personal to one’s self. This is the highest stage of virtue, and a man who attains to this stage derives a genuine pleasure from doing good. He does not imagine that he is laying anybody under an obligation. Rather he feels grateful that he has found an opportunity of doing good, just as a man to whom a child is born does not imagine that a burden is laid upon him, but is happy and grateful for this Divine blessing. Such people devote themselves to the service of humanity, and find sorrow and joy in the sorrows and joys of others, and the thought never crosses their minds that they have conferred any benefit upon others. Instead, they are grateful that God has, out of His pure grace, afforded them opportunities of serv- ing others. They constantly desire that they may be afforded greater opportunities of such service, as parents desire that if they had ampler means they would keep their children in greater comfort. There are three stages of evil, corresponding to the three stages of virtue. As against ‘ Adal there is Fa h sh a ’ , which, when used in juxtaposition with the word Munkar , means secret vices which are not appar- ent for instance, evil thoughts and evil designs issuing out of an unclean mind. This is the first stage of vice, as ‘Adal is the first stage of virtue. The influence of evil company, evil instruction or animal tendencies is first felt by the mind, and a man is assailed by evil thoughts which incline him towards vice. But there is an inherent tendency in man towards virtue which suppresses and overcomes such thoughts. If they are allowed to take