S.6 A.107-109
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False gods: but We Made thee not one To watch over their doings, Nor art thou set Over them to dispose Of their affairs. Revile not ye Those whom they call upon Besides Allah, lest They out of spite Revile Allah In their ignorance. Thus have We made Alluring to each people936 Its own doings. In the end will they Return to their Lord And He shall then Tell them the truth Of all that they did. 109. They swear their strongest Oaths by Allah, that if A (special) Sign came To them, by it they would
936. A man's actual personal religion depends upon many things.-his personal psychology, the background of his life, his hidden or repressed feelings. tendencies. or history (which psychoanalysis tries to unravel), his hereditary dispositions or antipathies. and all the subtle influences of his education and his environment. The task before the man of God is: (1) to use any of these which can subscrve the higher end~, (2) to purify such as have been misused. (3) to introduce new ideas and modes of looking at things. and (4) to combat what is wrong and cannot be mended: all for the purpose of leading to the truth and gradually lelling in spiritual light where there was darknes.~ before. If that is not done with discretion and the skill of a Teacher. there may be not only a reaction of obstinacy. but an unseemly show of dishonour to the true God and His Truth. and doubts would spread among the weaker brethren whose fllith is Shllllow and infirm. What happens to individuals is true collectively of nations or groups of people. They think in their self-obsession that their own ideas are right. Allah in His infinite compllssion bellrs with them, and asks those who have purer ideas of faith not to vilify the weaknesses of their neighbours, lest the neighbours in their tum vilify the real truth and make mailers even worse than before. In so far as there are mistakes, Allah will forgive and send His grace for helping ignorance and folly. In so far as there is active eVil. He will deal with it in His own way. Of course the righteous man must not hide his light under a bushel. or compromise with evil. or refuse to establish right living where he has power to do so.
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