Islamic Thoughts

• ANALYSES
• 1 Behavior code of Muslims toward non-Muslims
• 2 September 11 (2001) attacks on America not compatible with Islam
• 3 Ways To Defuse Religious Tensions
• 4 The Value Of The Ten Commandments
• 5 Bright Spot Of The Us Constitution: Religious Freedom
• 6 Lessons from the prophet's hudaibiah treaty.
• 7 Rulers' roles in promotion of christianity.
• 8 Exploring a model definition of 'religion'
• 9 Where islam stands as a civilized religion?
• 10 Proving god's existence through experimental science.
• 11 Roles of man as necessary & God as sufficient condition.
• 12 Human kindness is a shadow of god's kindness.
• 13 Why islam is the best choice for the Africans?
• 14 In Old Age, All Roads Lead To Death.
• 15 No Creations Are Without Purposes & Uses.
• 16 Prayer Prevents People From Bad Actions.
• 17 When Haram May Be Excusable: Five-Step Conditions.
• 18 Islamization Of Some Un-Islamic Cultures.
• 19 Greater The Faith, Tougher The Test.
• 20 How Science Can Make A Difference For Muslims?
• 21 The Time Gap Reality Between Sin & Punishment.
• 22 Good & Bad Days Alternate In Cyclic Order.
• 23 Let Moon-Sighting Unite & Not Divide The Muslims.
• 24 Faith Crisis Among Some Intellectuals.
• 25 Islamic Policy Toward Animals.
• 26 Improving The Muslim Performance (Aamal) Standard.
• ARGUMENTS
• 27 How Middle Course Better Than Conservative And Liberal Extremes?
• 28 Why God Is The Best One To Be Worshipped?
• 29 Costs And Benefits Of Belief In The Afterlife
• 30 Bible Is Similar To Hadith But Different From Quran
• 31 Defaming Islam: Freedom Of Speech Or Violation Of Rights?
• 32 How Islam Compares With Democracy?
• 33 Who Is Responsible For '0' Small Pox Since 1980?
• 34 Timeliness Is The Leading Condition For Prayer.
• 35 Ten Arguments For Women's Education.
• 36 Why Physical Fitness Matters For The Muslims?
• 37 Homosexuality Vs Adultery: Which Is Worse And How?
• 38 Countering Abortionist Argument
• 39 Which Is Better: Open Or Secret Prayer?
• 40 Small Or Large Recitation: Which Is Better In Prayer?
• 41 Personal Or Social Suffering: Which Is More Painful & Why?
• 42 Cultural Slavery Vs Cultural Diffusion.
• 43 Why Should America Ban Religious Defamation?
• ASSORTMENTS
• 44 Visible Action Of Invisible God: From Author's Diary.
• 45 Optional Good Deeds Are Like Bodyguards For Compulsory Ones.
• 46 The Gravitation Law Of Performance (Not One Of Newton).
• 47 The Theory Of Relativity (Not That Of Einstein).
• 48 In Good Deeds
• 49 "Rob Peter to pay Paul" is not for islam
• 50 Muslims Cannot Be "Penny Wise And Pound Foolish".
• 51 Islam Endorses Salad Bowl & Not Melting Pot Theory.
• 52 100% Homosexuality Means Prospect Of 'O' World Population.
• 53 Sinning In Teens To 40's & Suffering From 50's To Death.
• 54 Revenge May Be Lower But Not Greater Than Harm.
• 55 Why Karl Marx Is Irrelevant Forever?
• 56 Is God The Same One For All Religions?
• 57 How God Controls Economy And Livelihood?
• 58 How Muslim Repression In Myanmar Violates Buddhist Principles?
• MISCELLANEOUS
• 59 Grim Reality of Death: Unfailing Lesson for Everyone

1. Behavior code of Muslims toward non-Muslims

Islam provides clear guidelines about how the Muslims should deal with the non-Muslims. These range from your pattern of thinking or forming opinions about the non-Muslims to your mode of behavior or dealings with them.

Unprejudiced Opinions: When you come to know a non-Muslim, you cannot start with a bad notion against him only on religious ground. Being created by God as the best of creations, every human being including an innocent non-Muslim has the basic right to be treated with a minimum level of dignity and honor. If, however, you are reported from a reliable source about his any criminal record or any on-going conspiring plan or past actions against the Muslims anywhere, it is only then you may equip your mind with a sense of alertness. This sense of caution, however, must be confined within the boundaries of your mind and should not spread beyond in the form of physical avenge as long as the said non-Muslim(s) remain non-violent to you.

Harmless Behavior: Islam considers it badly sinful to be harmful to others without being harmed by them. God usually does not forgive such sins unless the wronged person forgives the offender. This policy against the abusers of human rights is same for both the Muslims and non-Muslims. It is therefore forbidden to do any types of harms to the innocent non-Muslims including (a) harms to body (injury, murder etc.), (b) harms to mind (insult, rebuke etc.) and (c) harms to possession (theft, extortion, deprivation etc).

Ideal Behavior: Harmless behavior is not enough; you also should be on good behavior to every innocent non-Muslim. Remember how the Prophet of Islam modeled behavior that inspired many non-Muslims into embracing Islam. Likewise, as Muslims you also should follow such examples in your dealings with the non-Muslims, considering them to be your fellow creatures of God. Why should you not behave well with a non-Muslim if you get nice behavior from him?

Fair Dealing: God maintains a perfect scale of justice, with fairness for all regardless of religious background. This is both an inspiration as well as a mandate for you. For example, a Muslim judge must dispense fair justice to all people regardless of their religiois background. Similarly, a common Muslim also requires to maintain fairness in distribution of anything legally payable to others- Muslim or non-Muslim. God did not distinguish between the two peoples when He commanded treatment with justice or clearing other's dues (4:58). In the cases mentioned above, any act of violation of justice or fairness against any innocent non-Muslim will amount to a sin punishable by God and your Muslim status may not protect you from God's fair justice that may go against you. This means God values justice over favoring a nominal Muslim who cannot any more remain a good Muslim by violating justice.

Honoring Contract: For the Muslims, being faithful to any contracts with the non-Muslims means a precious good action. The Quran mandates "to fulfill the contracts which you have made" (2:177). We can recall how the Prophet suspended his Pilgrimage to Mecca (one of the 5 pillars of Islam) only to honor his pact of Hudaibia with the non-Muslims of Mecca. In the same spirit, a Muslim employee is expected to fulfill his obligations to his non-Muslim employer by working sincerely and doing nothing harmful to him as long as his hiring contract is on.

Civic Duties: Islam looks upon patriotism or love for your own country as a kind of virtue that draws inspiration from the tradition of Prophet. He could not suppress his emotional love for his motherland Mecca which he was forced (by religious persecution) to leave for his historic migration to Medina. Helping your motherland in some way or other is an expression of gratitude for all benefits that you avail from there in the form of natural resources, livelihood etc.

Similarly, as a naturalized citizen you are also supposed to think and behave like a good citizen and perform your civic duties to your adopted state (Muslim or non-Muslim) in compliance with the provisions of your naturalization contract. You cannot choose to think or do otherwise while keeping your citizenship status alive.

Monetary Help: The Quran reminds us of God's policy of granting necessary provisions to both Muslims and non-Muslims (17:20). The Muslims therefore have no genuine ground for being close-fisted while spending for the needy among non-Muslims. The Prophet did not exclude the non-Muslim neighbors while stating "He who eats his fill without caring for his starving neighbor is not a true believer". In fact, the Muslims in general can spend for the deserving non-Muslims out of a wide variety of charitable sources excepting 'zakat' and 'fitr' which have differently designated spending heads.