Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 72
72 seek to express his love and longing by some outward act. This is the secret of all worship. Worship is the physical symbol of the true relationship of man to God. A man who truly loves God, knowing that he daily expresses his love and affection for others by outward signs, cannot object to external acts of worship. Such objections proceed from lack of love. This would be a sufficient explanation of the ex- ternal acts of worship prescribed by Islam, but there are also other significances underlying them. One is, that, as the Holy Quran explains, physical acts react on the mind and the state of the mind reacts on the outward condi- tion of the body: It says: 'It is only right that men should demonstrate veneration for the places where God’s glory was manifested, for righteousness of the heart does naturally express itself outwardly. ' 38 This refers to the reaction of the state of the mind on the body. At another place the reaction of physical acts on the mind is referred to in the words, 'Beware, their hearts have been corrupted by what they have wrought. ' 39 At first they acted against truth to gain material objects, with the result that, in the end, the love of truth vanished from their hearts. This is a truth which has been fully demonstrated by psychologists. I hap- pened to read once in an American psychologist’s book 38 Al- H ajj, 22:33. 39 Al-Ta t f i f, 83:15.