The holy and perfect teaching is that of the Holy Qur’an which nourishes every branch of the human tree. The Qur’an does not stress only one side. Sometimes it urges forgiveness and forbearance on condition that they should be appropriate, and sometimes on proper occasions, it directs the punishment of an offender. In truth the Holy Qur’an is a picture of the Divine law of nature, which is visible everywhere. It is perfectly reasonable that the word of God and the work of God should be in accord with each other, that is to say, as the work of God Almighty appears in the world, the true Book of God should teach in accordance with that work, and not that His work should manifest one thing and His word should manifest something else. We observe in God's work that there is not always forgiveness and forbearance but that He punishes offenders with diverse types of chastisement. Such punishment is mentioned in the previous Books also. Our God is not only Compassionate but is also Wise and His torment is great. The True Book is the one which is in accord with this law of nature, and the True Word of God is that which is not inconsistent with His work. We do not find that God has treated His creation always with compassion and forbearance and that there is no chastisement. Even today, God Almighty has, for the chastisement of the wicked, prophesied through me the occurrence of a great and terrible earthquake which will destroy them.
[Chashma-e-Masihi, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 20, pp. 346-347]
We had raised an objection to the current Gospels that the Gospels do not provide for the development of all man's faculties and that even the portions of them relating to moral qualities are taken from the Torah. This caused great humiliation to the Christian priests. To this some Christians replied that:
Divine Books are concerned only with morals and that the punishment of offences is not appropriate for a Book of God, inasmuch as offences should be punished according to changing circumstances which are unlimited and it is not proper that there should be a fixed law laying down penalties. Every penalty should be such as is in accord with the times and is helpful for the warning and restraint of offenders. Fixed penalties are not beneficial for the reform of people. In the same way, civil, criminal and revenue laws should not be fixed and rigid, as they would create difficulties under changing circumstances. For instance, they might adversely affect commercial conditions which have become current and cannot be avoided, or a penal law might not be helpful where offenders have become accustomed to one kind of punishment, or may not be amenable to it.
I would say that this type of thinking proceeds from people who have not studied the Holy Qur’an with care. The directions contained in the Holy Qur’an with regard to civil, criminal and revenue matters are of two types. One, which lays down the details of punishment or of procedure, and the other which only prescribes the principle and does not lay down any specific direction. The purpose of the latter is to provide guidance for the meeting of new circumstances. For instance, at one place the Holy Qur’an lays down the rule of a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye. This is a detail. In another place, the principle is set forth:
‘The penalty for an offence is chastisement in proportion thereto.’—al-Shura, 42:41
On reflection we find that this principle is laid down for the widening of the law in cases where the specific law cannot be carried into effect. For instance, if a person who has lost his own teeth breaks the tooth of another, he ceases to be amenable to the rule of a tooth for a tooth, for he has no teeth himself. In the same way, if a blind person should destroy the eye of another person, he cannot be deprived of his own eye, for he has none. The Holy Qur’an lays down general principles to meet such cases and by doing so encourages everyone to deduce rules suitable to every case. It is a pity that the Torah does not follow this method and the Gospel is wholly deprived of this teaching. It only lays down a few moral exhortations, but they are not part of any code or system of law. The statement of the Christians that the Gospel has left legal matters to the intelligence of people is not a matter of pride, but one of remorse and shame, for whatever is not laid down as universal law and is not spelled out in terms of any regulatory principles, is liable to be misused and become an evil, however good its purpose might be.
[Kitab-ul-Bariyyah, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 13, pp. 87-88]
God Almighty, Who knows the secrets of the hearts, is witness that if anyone is able to point out a defect in the teaching of the Holy Qur’an to the extent of a thousandth part of a particle, or is able to point out an excellence in his own book, which is opposed to the teaching of the Qur’an and excels it, we would be prepared to submit ourselves to the penalty of death.
[Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 1 p. 298, sub footnote 2]
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