should a person be judged on his 'PERSONAL' actions and habits?

exactly.

:/ so should i cut off all contacts... i mean all that they have done for me! :(.. i mean he can be considered a bad muslim, which he will obviously not object to.. but a bad guy!!! which includes capability of raising children, honesty, reliability, trustworthiness, truthfulness completely absent!!!
being a good muslim boils down to religion... does being a good man also! just a curious question.

he = they

Your question is one that actually requires a lot of thinking & can have very diverse point of views.

For your first query... No. You should never break contact with your 'bad' Muslim friends. Also, it's bad to call anyone a 'Bad Muslim' based on their conduct simply because we don't really know the state of their faith... that's between Allah & Banda.
So don't break contact with em, infact, if you're that true a friend, you need to take care of two things:

#1: That you don't catch their habits.
#2: That you be a good Muslim & help them get rid of their bad ones.


Coming to the next point... If it's about being a Muslim, then yes it does boil down to religion. Because as I said earlier, Islam has a role in every single thing that we do in life. From birth to eating & drinking to bathing to praying to walking and talking, to praying and cleanliness, to marriage and divorce & death & what not, you name it... So we gotta admit that Islam is a complete religion with a complete instruction manual on how to live your life the best way.

When you talk about truthfulness or trust with such a person, I would:

- Trust him to meet office/uni work deadlines.
- Not trust everything he says about anyone.
- Not trust him with my children.
- Not really see him as a 'friend', but more like simply a work mate.
- Not marry him.
- Have faith that he could be better.

So when it comes to the life of a regular drunkard or a guy who spends his nights in strip clubs... let's come to think of how he'll raise his own children.
Will he be in his senses enough to spend quality time with his kids?
Will he save enough money to support his kids?
Will he be in any condition to encourage his kids study or work hard?
Will he be home at night to kiss his children good night?
Will he ever be able to love his wife if he's used to spending nights outside home?
Aaaaaargh... Will his family ever have a normal life if he doesn't give up his drinking & gambling problems??! :@

If your friend(s) are not ready to give up their habits, then the answers to the above questions will eventually, most likely, turn out to be a big, fat NO. But the key to living their happy, normal, stress free lives is in their own hands. The choice is theirs.

I'm not saying your friends are bad. If they're Muslims, I have faith they'll get rid of their habits, IA. And you should have faith too.

he = they/she

So now, here's my final opinion for such a person:

If you have a friend with such problems, that doesn't necessarily mean that your friend is BAD. He/she just needs help.
You just need to be wary of him under certain circumstances ^_^

Also, it isn't upto us to label anyone as 'good' or 'bad'. God knows best what's in the heart, the soul & the conduct, & I believe He alone can judge who's truly good or bad.
It's a time of trial for your friends. But it's an even greater trial for you, because it's you who has to stop them & save their a$ses from the Hellfire. So go save em! :p

thanks.. you kinda solved it!