I was looking at a note from my 8th grade math teacher
it was
‘a truly civilized man has no real enemies’
Looking back I mostly agree, but sense that the only weakness is that it may underestimate the lack of civility of others and that a truly civilized person may have real enemies because those people dislike the person due to his race, religion, ethnicity, political views etc.
discussing it with my dad, he agreed with my teacher saying that indeed its true, but it depends on the definition of real enemy, and by real if we mean someone who is your enemy for who you are not what you are.
"A man who has many friends never has one to spare, and a man who has only one enemy shall meet him everywhere..."
Civilised or not enemies are made and born wherever you go...
Not all are hostile and not all are welcoming.
In my experience all humans have a nice and evil side... both sides are nurtured and given a chance both will come out.
The partition is proof of how civilised folk will react when given the chance...
Also even tribals who many would see as wild have thier good sides... many a savage has shown patience and many so called civilizations wiped each other out.
Disagree. One can have enemies regardless of personal qualities, but rather based on your interaction with those around you. You could be nice to someone but they could despise you for their own insecurities.
point being those enemies will be enemies due to factors beyond your control but they dont hate you i.e. Mr. xyz, but hate you because you are a fill in the blank .. insert race, religion, sect ethnicity there.
"A man who has many friends never has one to spare, and a man who has only one enemy shall meet him everywhere..."
Civilised or not enemies are made and born wherever you go...
Not all are hostile and not all are welcoming.
In my experience all humans have a nice and evil side... both sides are nurtured and given a chance both will come out.
The partition is proof of how civilised folk will react when given the chance...
Also even tribals who many would see as wild have thier good sides... many a savage has shown patience and many so called civilizations wiped each other out.
so-called civilizations, so even you question whether these 'civilizations' were really civilized.
and the point about civilized folks reacting like barbarians, so does it mean that they were not truly civilized?
I doubt anyone can be truly civilised or wild... both are man made concepts i believe one can only be what one chooses to be himself.
If i wore a suit or a shalwar kameez does it change what i am inside.
It's all about the person inside the person none of us can see...
How strange that evil men can have a good man inside and many good men hold an evil man inside... the beauty and the beast is all in one.
In my mind anyway... thats just my belief.
At heart i'm a humanist but i'm also a devout follower of the greater good.
so from an innate basis, we have good and bad both inside, isnt the definition of a civilized man one who controls the bad side, and even when you talk of greater good, isnt self control and doing right even a part of faith?
so you say that wild and civilized are manmade concepts, what are the divine concepts then, doesnt every faith pretty much also try to tell humans to work on the good in them and control the bad?
the potential is still there though isnt there? for us to do greater good or greater evil?
and whatever term you want to give to a good person, wouldnt a good person strive for the greater good in them and around them?
I say that the prophet was a truly civilized man, lets use his example
and aside from the political disagreements he was not hated for who he was, even his detractor called him sadiq and ameen.
No not at all… Al capone did grow up in a civilised society though and learned his way in civilised schools and was supposed to respect civilised laws.
As for Nabi Pak Sallalho Alyahi Wassalam. The same so called civilised brutes of today call him uncivilized.
Anyhow i guess RasoolAllah is an amazing example of a man who was born in a civilized society and then spent his childhood among tribals… and became a leader of Tribals.
RasoolAllah went beyond the barriers of civil and wild… for his was the world to command.
There can be no comparisson to such a person, however RasoolAllah also choose to live much of his life among sahaba who many would see as barbarians.
so lets say the term civilized should be decent although I think your definition of civilized is way too narrow, mine may be way too broad, but no one really thinks of al capone as a civilized person.
civilized is not the opposite of wild btw
anyways if we go beyond the semantics and limitations of words like civilized or decent or proper or gentleman etc, the point being that if a person attempts to be a good human being he will not have many or any enemies who hate him for who he is as an individual.
God knows what scholastic temprament your teacher had. You cannot change friends into enemies or vice versa on the basis of how civilised you are. There will still be people who might disagree to the point of enmity.
a real decent/civilized/enlightened humanbeing has a lesser chance of having enemies? :) look at Faris' last post, i tend to agree with his view there.
there has to be some connection to having enemies and how one is, right?
and forwards 
Al capone did grow up in a civilised society though and learned his way in civilised schools and was supposed to respect civilised laws.