Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 73
73 that a professor, who was regarded as a very able man, was appointed the head of an institution, but in that capacity he failed utterly as he lacked firmness in matters of discipline and administration. A friend who noticed that he habitually left his mouth open advised him to keep his mouth shut. Acting on this advice, he discovered that he gained daily in firmness and determi- nation, and in the end he became a very successful administrator. In the ordinary incidents of daily life we observe that physical conditions constantly react on the mind. A man who puts on a frown and exhibits signs of anger begins to feel really angry. If a man in a towering passion is somehow made to laugh, his anger instantly subsides. Tears induce sadness of heart and laughter induces joy. Islam had this principle in view in prescrib- ing outward acts of worship, like the S al a t , etc. , for when a man assumes the outward appearance of humil- ity and supplication, his heart gradually surrenders itself to love and in the end he is drawn to God as a piece of steel is drawn to a magnet. Another significance underlying external acts of worship is that they promote a general feeling of love and obedience to God. Children learn to love their brothers and sisters and other relatives by observing that other people do the same. If all feelings of love and affection had been confined to the heart and had never found outward expression there could not have existed any feelings of affection between relatives, for how could a child have discovered whether any person was loved or hated by its parents and other relatives? It is obvious that this can only be discovered from outward