2. There are numerous verses in the Qur'an which enjoin "purification [Arabic: tazkīm] of one's self" and prohibit "cruelty [Arabic: Tazkīya] to one's own mind". They obviously imply the rule of conduct which I have called the Maxim of Self-help. No one has expressed it more beautifully and truthfully than Shakespeare in the well-known speech of Polonius. This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. [Sidenote: Herbert Spencer, Prof. T.H. Green, Lecky (Historian), Profs. Muirhead, Mackenzie, and Sen.] It is the basis of the ethical system advocated by authors mentioned in the margin. There are at present two contending schools of Morality. Each tries to determine what is 'good' or 'bad', and sets up a 'standard' or test by which men's actions should be judged as 'right' or 'wrong'. The standard according to the one school is Happiness (the surplus of pleasure over pain); according to the other it is Perfection (the fullest development of men as social beings). I think the latter school is more in favour now than it was at the end of the last century. Men of science now-a-days realize with Herbert Spencer that every one ought to develop himself by freely exercising all the powers of his mind and body to the fullest extent consistent with, and limited by, the _like_ exercise by his fellow men.[57] I cannot expatiate on this subject without entering into the realms of philosophy and metaphysics. I have only to say that the teaching of Islam as regards self-development is in entire accord with the views of latter-day moralists. If you are a student of Ethics you will observe that the doctrine of "making the most of oneself" (Perfection) is, in accordance with the Islamic principle of Moderation, the mean of two extreme doctrines:--the doctrine of "duty for duty's sake" (Rigourism) on the one hand, and the doctrine of "the greatest happiness of the greatest number" (Utilitarianism) on the other. +Duty--Perfection--Utility.+ I have to add that "self-perfection" really means "self-help," = due exercise of one's faculties with patience and perseverance. If you have not read Dr. Smiles' book on Self-help, you had better read it at your earliest convenience. I can recommend no better commentary on the saying: "God helps those who help themselves."[58] +Note 10.+ _Moderation and Via Media._