Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 54
54 beneficence of God, the mere fact that disease may result from ignorance or infringement of it does not in any way detract from the perfection of God’s benefi- cence. As with disease, so with sin, which, again, has no independent existence. An infringement of a moral or spiritual law is termed a sin. The existence of sin, therefore, does not offend against the beneficence or sanctity of God. The names which have been used in the Holy Quran to signify sin, indicate either excess or default, none of them being an underived noun, which shows that according to the Holy Quran sin has no independent existence, and signifies merely the absence of righteousness. Excess and default are the direct result of man’s action or omission, his failure to use or his misuse of God’s bounties or his attempt to infringe the rights of others. No other religious book presents God in this light. It is the Holy Quran alone which asserts and explains that the existence of these apparently harmful and injurious things does not detract from the perfect attributes of God. The Holy Quran does not merely enumerate the attributes of God; it explains and illus- trates them in such detail that all doubts and misgivings vanish and a revelation of their beauty enchants the eye, compels admiration and fills the heart with the longing to love and obey. A mere enumeration of Divine attrib- utes, however, is of no great merit. It is sometimes objected that it is incompatible with God’s mercy that children should suffer from