Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 55
55 diseases and disorders which they have in no way earned or brought upon themselves. The answer to this objection is contained in the above explanation, that is to say, God has made a law that all things are influenced by their surroundings, and this law is wholly beneficent. If this had not been so, man could neither have been influenced by external things nor could he have made any progress. Under the operation of this law children are influenced both for good and for evil, by their parents. They get from them both health and disease. If they could not have inherited disease they would equally have been unable to inherit the faculties and capacities of their parents, and man would have been born a mere image of stone, impervi- ous both to good and to evil influences, and the object underlying the creation of man would have been frus- trated and his existence would have been worse than that of animals. The next question is, whether there is any com- pensation for the loss and suffering caused by inherited diseases and disabilities. The answer given to this question by Islam is that in measuring the spiritual progress of each person allowance will be made for every disability under which he had suffered and which had not been incurred by some fault of his own. For instance, the Holy Quran says: 'On the day of the final Retribution causes which had impeded the spiritual progress of a man