Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 326
326 through each gate there will pass one part of his body; i. e. , one part through the sense of sight, another part through the sense of hearing, a third part through the sense of smell a fourth through the sense of taste, a fifth through the sense of touch, a sixth through the sense of heat and cold, and a seventh through the muscular sense. It is by means of these seven senses that man commits sins. He sins either through his eyes, when he looks at evil things with an evil eye or he sins through his ears when he listens to backbiting or foul language, etc. ; or he sins through his nose when he smells things which he ought not to smell, or through his sense of taste when he eats things which he ought not to eat; or through his sense of touch when a desire for soft beds and cushions prevents him from employing himself in the service of his fellow men; or he sins through his sense of temperature when he shrinks from the perform- ance of good deeds through fear of heat or cold; or again he sins through his muscular sense when he refrains from doing good or leaves it incomplete to save himself from fatigue. In short, it is the seven senses which cause a man to sin, and it is these senses which enable him to do good. By the seven gates of hell are thus meant the seven senses by means of which man commits sin. It is these seven senses through which he will taste punishment in the life to come, for owing to his becoming habituated to evil, the seven spiritual senses which correspond to the seven physical senses will become weakened and diseased, and will, by reason of their diseased condition, feel the punishment ap- pointed for offenders in the next life. Accordingly we