Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 204
204 says, no man can be a Prophet unless he teaches men to become Rabb a n i s. Rabb a n i means a person who gives instruction first in elementary matters, and then in more advanced sciences and arts, and regulates his course of instruction by dividing it into grades and stages. It is necessary, therefore, for a Prophet to impress upon his followers that in prescribing courses of spiritual and moral training, they should have due regard to the capacities and temperaments of those who are meant to be benefitted by them. They should persuade people to give up their old habits step by step, and should instruct them in those things of which they are ignorant, by degrees. Gradual instruction does not, however, mean that some things should be kept back as secret from some people, but that people should be instructed to act upon those things step by step, so that they should always have in view an object which is easily attainable, that they should not lose courage, and that their success- ful accomplishment of one stage should be an encour- agement to start on the next. For instance, all scholars are aware of the total length of the course which they have to go through, but its division into classes and grades and the frequency of tests and examinations serve as encouragement to them so that they are able constantly to measure their progress in studies and, thus, do not feel oppressed by the idea of having to complete the whole course at once. In addition to these general instructions, Islam lays down detailed rules concerning each moral quality, and prescribes grades and stages, which render it very easy for a man to adopt or renounce desirable or unde-