Page 274 - Quranic Wisdom - New.indd

Double Measurement

an individual or group may ask for honour, or respect, or services,
which for their part he or they are not willing to give in similar
circumstances.

It is worse than one-sided selfishness: for it is double injustice.
But its worst manifestation is in religion or spiritual life: how
can a man have the effrontery to ask for mercy or love from
God when he grudges giving either to his fellow men? There is a
golden rule which should be borne in mind: ‘Do as you would be
done by.’ To give this more complete expression—you must give
in full measure what is due from you, whether you expect or wish
to receive full consideration from the other party or not.

The integrity of one who is engaged in such double practice
is highly dubious. It is almost inhuman. There is not even any
animal on the earth that is reported to involve itself in such a
practice. It is only man who behaves in this way out of pure self-
interest. Self-interest is a decidedly human phenomenon; in the
animal dictionary there is no such word as self-interest.
All animals are predictable in character; it is only man who
fails to behave in a predictable manner. The reason for this
difference is that animals have no freedom of choice. But man
has freedom of choice. It is this unlimited freedom that creates
the problem.
A true believer is one who never stoops to ‘double
measurement’. One who is not flawed by this evil is a predictable
character. You can trust him. You can live in his neighbourhood
with the certain knowledge that he is not going to create any
problems for you.

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