Being Muslim to You

When somebody identifies himself as a Muslim, what standards do you hold that person by?

I hold them by standards I expect muslims to behave like, which are a good deal higher than the standards I expect anyone else to behave like. For example, if a muslim drinks alcohol, I think badly of that person, if a non-muslim drinks, I couldn't care less. However if a non-muslim doesn't drink, then he earns my respect.

Secondly are most of your friends Muslims?

Most of my friends are not muslims.

For me a good person regardless of religion is one who follows his own beliefs truly. I judge people by that.

Judging other people will gain you or your case nothing. Trying to understand them is so much more fertile whether you succeed in doing this or not.

And your lack of understanding does not have to be their fault.

I would say that what lies within ones person ultimately manifests itself in his outward actions and people are judged by their actions and not their beleifs. Humans are born judgemental. It is good to judge your environment of which other people are a part. An ignorance based judgement is not really a jugdement but just plain ingorance.

Judging other people will gain you or your case nothing. Trying to understand them is so much more fertile whether you succeed in doing this or not. And your lack of understanding does not have to be their fault

You cannot judge a person unless you understand them, and you should always assume that you don't understand them - because you probably don't, thus adding a large degree of uncertainty into your judgement. But judging people, although it is not fashionable to admit it, is a very important and unavoidable part of human social interaction.

It is wrong if you judge a person on a misunderstanding, or if you judge a person based on something other than their own character, but not judging a person (if it can ever truely be done) could get you into a lot of trouble.

A persons religion, culture and background determines which moral code a person would come from, and thus determines what taboos a person would break. Thus a person who has a bit of a rebellious streak in from one background will break different taboos than a person from another. For example in the case of girlfriends, if they came from a traditional arab & muslim background, and a strict family, they would probably rebel by having a (one) girlfriend, but is still fairly conservative with what he does with her, and stays with her for a long time (if not forever). However if they are from a typical anglo-australian not religious background, the same type of person could frequently change girlfriends and have no limits to what he is willing to do with her.
Thus, two people who are in this case equal in morality will do different things due to their different backgrounds. Although it should be remembered that you can never know a persons background 100%, thus adding uncertainty. If the arab is acting in the same manner as the anglo, then, probably, the anglo is a more moral person.

Complete failure to judge a person can get you into situations that you don't want to be in, it can result in doing things that you don't want to do, it can get you in trouble with the law. Who you mix with is very important. You should judge, but always know that your judgements could be wrong (but then again, they might not). For example if moderators did not judge forummers, based on the CoC, AE would be swamped by people who would make AE an unenjoyable place to visit.

How you act based upon your judgements it one of the most important aspects, I consider it best, regardless of how bad your judgement of a person may be, to be friendly to that person on the outside, even if you never want to see that person again on the inside. There is no point letting other people know what your judgement of a person is (unless the judgement is good) - because you could be very wrong, and who knows, maybe that person will be useful to you in the future. It always pays to have many friends and no enemies, or at least, it is best that your enemies don't know that they are your enemies.


Edited by Omar al Hashim - 27-Dec-2006 at 19:05

Right now , I live in Latvia, so naturally most of my friends are non-muslims

I have been to abroad for several times..I met people from dozens of countries.. One thing I understood well is that it is all about one's self-improvement combined with the level of intellectuality.

Also I tend to see all people from Adam and Eve rather than muslims and christians. Therefore, i do not  hold different standarts for people coming from different religious backgrounds.

But sometimes i must admit that i compare in my mind the ways christians and muslims live. Sometimes i think christians do live better because they are less collectivist. Sometime i think muslims do live better because they do put a faith in God and Divine Justice.