Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. -Ephesians 4:25 Taqiyya. Pronounced Tack-ear (approx). Strictly, Taqiyya is a Shia doctrine, but Sunni Islam has its equivalent “Muda’rat”. For some reason, in the West (at least amongst non-Muslims), the doctrine is more widely known as Taqiyya. “This is the Islamic practice of “precautionary dissimulation” [i.e. lying] whereby believers may conceal their Muslim faith when under threat, persecution or compulsion.” (Oxford Dictionary of Islam). “The word “al-Taqiyya” literally means: “Concealing or disguising one’s beliefs, convictions [not just religious], ideas, feelings, opinions, and/or strategies at a time of eminent danger, whether now or later in time, to save oneself from physical and/or mental injury.”” (Abdul Hamid Siddiqui) Comment: Thus if you think you may be in danger physically or mentally at some point in the future from telling the truth, you are allowed to lie. “al-Taqiyya is the uttering of the tongue, while the heart is comfortable with faith.” (Ibn Abbas) Comment: What this means is that you can say something “un-Islamic”, or lie, provided you retain Islamic belief. Hadith: Muslim #6303: Reported Umm Kulthum she heard Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: A liar is not one who tries to bring reconciliation amongst people and speaks good (in order to avert dispute), or he conveys good. Ibn Shihab said he did not hear that exemption was granted in anything what the people speak as lie but in three cases: in battle, bringing reconciliation amongst persons… Comment: What is significant here is that if your lie is for a “good cause” (and what better cause then promoting Islam?) then it is just fine with Allah to lie. Hadith: Bukhari Bk 52: No.269: Narrated Jabir bin ‘Abdullah: The Prophet said, “War is deceit.” Comment:You can also lie in “war” / jihad (all non-Islamic parts of the World are part of the “World of War” don’t forget) and jihad has non-violent elements in which deceit can be practised. Ibid Bk.84: No.64: Narrated ‘Ali: Whenever I tell you a narration from Allah’s Apostle, by Allah, I would rather fall down from the sky than ascribe a false statement to him, but if I tell you something between me and you then it was indeed a trick. Comment: In other words, lying is okay, provided you don’t misquote Mohammed or the Koran. But, as we will see later, a partial quote is fine too. Sharia Law:Reliance of the Traveller (p. 746 – 8.2) – “… If a praiseworthy aim is attainable … by lying but not by telling the truth, it is permissible to lie if attaining the goal is permissible (i.e. when the purpose of lying is to circumvent someone who is preventing one from doing something permissible), and obligatory to lie if the goal is obligatory… Comment: this basically expands on Muslim#6303, but makes it clear that under certain circumstances a Muslim must tell lies. Koran 3:28: “Let believers [Muslims] not take Kaffirs [non-Muslims] for “auliya” instead of believers. Whoever does this shall have no relationship left with God—unless you but guard yourselves against them, taking precautions…” Comment: this verse is often seen as the primary verse that sanctions deception towards non-Muslims. Tabari (d. 923 AD), author of a standard and authoritative Qur’an commentary, explains verse 3:28 as follows: “If you [Muslims] are under their [non-Muslims] authority, fearing for yourselves, behave loyally to them with your tongue while harbouring inner animosity for them … [know that] God has forbidden believers from trusting or being on intimate terms with the infidels rather than other believers—except when infidels are above them [in authority]. Should that be the case, let them [Muslims] act friendly towards them while preserving their religion.” Ibn Kathir (d. 1373), another prime authority on the Qur’an, writes, “Whoever at any time or place fears … evil [from non-Muslims] may protect himself through outward show.” [As proof of this, he quotes Muhammads close companion] Abu Darda, who said, “Let us grin in the face of some people while our hearts curse them.” [And another companion, simply known as] Al-Hasan, who said, “Doing taqiyya is acceptable till the Day of Judgement [i.e., in perpetuity].” Written by Sami Mukaram, (a former Islamic studies professor at the American University of Beirut and author of some twenty-five books on Islam) the book, Al-Taqiyya fi’l-Islam (Dissimulation in Islam) clearly demonstrates the ubiquity and broad applicability of taqiyya: Taqiyya is of fundamental importance in Islam. Practically every Islamic sect agrees to it and practices it … We can go so far as to say that the practice of taqiyya is mainstream in Islam, … Taqiyya is very prevalent in Islamic politics, especially in the modern era. Islam has “history” when it comes to deceiving the (Christian) West. Writing about Islam’s wars with Christians, the practice of taqiyya was widespread then as well according to Mukaram: [Whenever the Christians were in authority], Taqiyya was used as a way to fend off danger from the Muslims, especially in critical times and when their borders were exposed to wars with the Byzantines and, afterwards, to the raids [crusades] of the Franks and others. Thus Taqiyya may be practised under the following conditions. ◾Fear of “persecution” (i.e. anything that prevents or impedes living a fully Sharia-compliant life.). ◾To deceive an enemy, that is non-Muslims. ◾If lying will do “good” in an Islamic sense or in the cause of Islam. ◾For political purposes. Recall that Islam divides the world into the Islamic world (dar-ul-Islam) and the world-of-war (Dar-ul-Harb). Further the Koran in 4:101 states (Pickthall): “… the disbelievers are an open enemy to you.” What this means is that non-Muslims (the Koran translators use disbelievers/unbelievers interchangeably to mean “those that do not believe” – i.e. non-Muslims) are a declared enemy of the Muslim Umma (peoples), with whom Islam is in a state of war (either “hot” or “cold”). Therefore, Islam gives clear permission to Muslims to lie to non-Muslims in any expedient way (since they can invoke Taqiyya for any and/or all of the reasons above depending on case!). Thus we (as non-Muslims) can never really take what any Muslim says about Islam as being the truth. NOTE: this is not to say that any individual Muslim is not honest, just that they may not be – and the worst part of this is that we can never tell.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 09:17:37 +0000
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