What Is Islamic Behavior? Generally, How Islamic
People Behave
Author: Tom Attea

We're going to attempt what, until now, seems undoable for an
infidel: write about Islamic behavior in a way that doesn't
upset Muslims or anybody else. Is that a challenge or isn't it?
Not really. All it takes, we think with persistent resistance to
despair, is unwavering fairness, inarguable logic, and adherence
to the truth as best as we can know and endorse it.

So here goes.

These days, we hear a great deal about what Islamic and
un-Islamic behavior is. While it's an understandable topic of
discussion, the truth is, Islamic behavior pretty much comes
down to how Islamic people behave – just as any other group's
behavior pretty much comes down to how the members of the group
behave.

Let's look at two extreme examples.

First, an Islamic person says, "Kill all the infidels and,
while you're at it, kill all the other Muslims who don't agree
with me 100%!" Then he or she goes out and sets off a bomb that
kills an indiscriminate group of infidels and Muslims who aren't
behaving exactly according to his or her vision of Muslim
behavior.Those tragically awful words and deeds become part of
Islamic behavior.

On the other hand, if an Islamic person says, "Hi, there,
friend. I often think about how much all human beings have in
common and how all of us who believe in one God know we're each
a precious living representative of the same God, so we wouldn't
want to hurt or kill each other. We might even want to help each
other along." Then, if he or she lives in mutually considerate
harmony with all other human beings, infidel or not, his or her
wonderfully commendable behavior becomes part of Islamic
behavior.

There's just no escape for Muslims or anybody else from the
inflexible bar of natural justice. At this point, we'll dare to
mention one of the infidel Plato's least bandied about but most
consequential statements: "We become what we do." The entirely
inescapable principle of natural justice has never been stated
more exactly. And knowing it exists is a real consolation to
people who sometimes wonder if there is any justice in the
world.

Like all justice, it grinds very fine. For instance, if you
decide to be a terrorist and murder somebody, you become a
terrorist who murdered somebody. If you decide to be a mutually
caring person who makes a considerate place for others and even
helps them when you think you should, you become a mutually
caring and helpful person.

You can see evidence of how inescapable this principle is
wherever you look. The 911 hijackers decided to become suicidal
terrorists and they became dead terrorists. Osama Bin Laden
decided to instigate deeds that would bring the wrath of the
world down on him, and now he has the life of a man who has
brought the wrath of the world down on him. Same goes for his
second in mayhem and murder, Ayman al-Zawahiri, except he still
gets to sneak in somewhere and make detestable amateur videos.

The principle of natural justice is also, for example, the
reason Alexander the Great, who set out to be a world
conqueror, met death in a remote desert as a would-be world
conqueror. He would have been much better off to hang around
his dad's palace in Macedonia and take the reins of power in
his time. It's also why Hitler took what might have been a
perfectly ordinary or enjoyable life and turned it into one
where he ended up locked in a bunker with no choice but to
shoot his girlfriend, Eva, and then to turn the gun on himself.


Now, since we inescapably define our behavior by how we behave,
it becomes especially important for influential people in the
Muslim world, as well as in the non-Muslim world, to decide how
they want Islamic behavior to be defined – and to know that the
only way to influence how it is defined is to influence how
Muslims, one and all, behave.

For instance, do Muslims want Islamic behavior to be defined by
fellow Muslims becoming furious and murderous over comments
about Islam or cartoons about Mohammed, at the same time
Muslims kills non-Muslims and Muslims alike while an enormously
troublesome silence prevails? Do Muslims want Islamic behavior
to be defined by strict observance of how Muslims wear their
beards but tolerance for vitriolic words and murderous
behavior? Should it be defined by encouraging Muslim women to
cover themselves up like medieval nuns, instead of to display
proudly their physical beings, which represent, inarguably to a
believer, the handiwork of Allah himself?

We would like to explore one more and especially touchy issue,
since the article would be incomplete without doing so. Should
Muslim behavior be defined by rigid adherence to every word in
the Koran? Or should it to be defined by the recognition that
the Koran, as well as the Bible or any other lasting document,
is not only made up of its timeless content but of material
that relates more or entirely to the time and place in which it
was inspired.

Then what is the holiest Islamic behavior toward the Koran? To
take the timeless inspirations and encumber them forever with
the more earthly material that is an inevitable artifact of the
time in which the verses were composed? Or to take the timeless
inspirations and liberate them from the more earthbound
contents – and thereby make the inspirations forever timely?

We think the latter. It enables the timeless values to become,
if you'll permit intensification of an absolute, more timeless.
Then they can be as at home in the modern world as they were at
the time of their creation, and its adherents can participate
in the modern world as intelligently and comfortably as anybody
else.

As a closing note about Islamic behavior, we also think it
would be commendable if Muslims ceased referring to non-Muslims
as infidels. We do, after all, have our own faiths, and fair
reference does tend to encourage fair reference.

Have we offended anybody? We hope not. If by some chance we
have, then please indulge us and go back and read what we said
again.

We did our best to please everybody. And we can't apologize,
because it's wrong to apologize for the truth, which invites us
all to recognize it and know it is the surest foundation for our
beliefs.


About The Author: Tom Attea, humorist and creator of
http://NewsLaugh.com, has had six shows produced Off-Broadway.
Critics have called his writing "delightfully funny," "witty,"
with "good, genuine laughs" and "great humor and ebullience."