Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 256
256 of this direction is responsible for the loss of scores of lives every year. Then, a Muslim must never lose courage or give way to despair. He should ever stand firm like a rock in the midst of trials and misfortunes. The winds of calam- ity may not shake him and the waves of disaster may beat against him in vain. He must battle with failures and defeat till he wins his way to success or dies in the effort. Islam makes a man brave, and a Muslim never seeks to escape from, or shirk, his responsibilities by such cowardly means as suicide or self-destruction. Such is a Muslim! But by Muslim I do not mean the so-called Muslim of today who has entirely forsaken Islam and looks to the West for moral and spiritual sustenance of every description. By a Muslim I mean the Muslim of thirteen hundred years ago, whose type has been revived in the present age by the Promised Messiah as. An important aspect of social relations which is being sadly neglected today is the care and upbringing of orphans. A people that neglect its orphans can never hope to win in the race for progress. Islam has, there- fore, laid down suitable rules for the care of orphans. It requires that a guardian should be appointed for the person and property of an orphan, the nearest blood relation being entitled to be appointed the guardian of a minor. The guardian should manage the property of the minor on his behalf, and look after the upbringing and welfare of his ward. If he is poor, an honorarium may be paid to him for his trouble and for the time which he has