Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 51
? 44 For, the powers that are transmitted through heredity call for no exertion. But Allah says that He made two uphill ways. That is to say, that if one wanted to keep up virtue, he would have to exert himself for it and if he chose to persist in sin, he would likewise have to put in effort in that direction. Therefore, neither virtue nor sin is a hereditary gift. One has to exert in acquiring them. In other words each is self-acquired. If sin were transmitted through heredity, neither the first lie nor the first theft would call for any exertion. But when one speaks his first lie, his face becomes pale and similarly, when one commits his first burglary, he goes about hiding and it so happens that his movements, very often betray him, making people suspect him of the offence. A story very much in currency in our country of a Brahmin accidentally killing a cow is an illustration in point. Under the law in force at the time, a Brahmin found guilty of killing a cow ran the risk of capital punishment. This Brahmin, therefore, leaving the dead cow looked up in his house made off. Wherever on the way he came across men in twos and threes engaged in talk, he would walk up to them and ask what they meant by their reference to the cow. They would invariably deny that they had made any mention of the animal in the course of their talk. He would protest saying it was not so and that they were only hiding the fact from him and would insist that it was certainly the topic of their conversation. He would then proceed further