The American Muslim (TAM)

The Taqiyya Libel Against Muslims - updated 5/30/2010

Sheila Musaji

Posted May 30, 2010 • Permalink • Printer-Friendly Version

The Taqiyya Libel Against Muslims

by Sheila Musaji

It has become prevalent in Islamophobic circles to misrepresent the Arabic term taqiyya. For example, one recent article “informed” readers that:

Taqiyya literally means: “Concealing or disguising one’s beliefs, convictions, 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.” It is also used as a disinformation tactic to confuse or bamboozle kafirs or non-believers.

Note that the actual definition is in quotation marks while the rest of the paragraph (which I have underlined) is something added to the meaning by someone who wishes to distort the term.

Some Islamophobic writers like Robert Spencer regularly refer to this term as if it gives all Muslims a pass to lie to non-Muslims whenever they wish.

Taqiyya actually refers to a controversial minority doctrine or dispensation that allows for an individual to conceal their faith when under threat, persecution or compulsion. Even those who believe that taqiyyah is possible under such circumstances place severe limits on the possibility and see it as an option that represents “the lesser of two evils”. The possibility of using taqiyya even in a situation where you are endangered is not accepted by all scholars or schools of law.

As Hussein Ibish has pointed out in a very worthwhile article “It is becoming increasingly common in American political commentary as Islamophobic rhetoric has developed as a genre of the “paranoid style” of American politics, to hear or read that Islam encourages Muslims to lie to nonbelievers, and that therefore no one of Muslim heritage should be believed, particularly when they adopt moderate or constructive stances. This is, of course, immediately familiar to anyone with a familiarity with Western anti-Semitism, which has always held that Jews are religiously authorized to lie to, steal from or even kill Christians and other non-Jews. Like most forms of contemporary American Islamophobic rhetoric, this calumny about generalized and religiously sanctioned systematic dishonesty has been transferred wholesale from Jews to Muslims. The idea that the doctrine of “taqiyya” constitutes a carte blanche for all Muslims to lie to all non-Muslims is at the heart of this slander.”

What does the Qur’an actually say about lying and telling the truth?

“And cover not Truth with falsehood, nor conceal the Truth when ye know (what it is). (Qur’an, 2:42)”

“If ye are on a journey, and cannot find a scribe, a pledge with possession (may serve the purpose). And if one of you deposits a thing on trust with another, Let the trustee (Faithfully) discharge His trust, and let him fear his Lord. Conceal not evidence; for whoever conceals it,- His heart is tainted with sin. And God Knoweth all that ye do. (Qur’an, 2:283)”

“O ye who believe! Stand out firmly For justice, as witnesses To Allah, even as against Yourselves, or your parents, Or your kin, and whether It be (against) rich or poor: For Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (Of your hearts), lest ye Swerve, and if ye Distort (justice) or decline To do justice, verily Allah is well-acquainted With all that ye do. (Qur’an, 4:135)”

“But if anyone earns A fault or a sin And throws it on to one That is innocent, He carries (on himself) (Both) a falsehood And a flagrant sin. (Qur’an, 4:112)”

“...Help ye one another In righteousness and piety, But help ye not one another In sin and rancour: Fear Allah: for Allah Is strict in punishment. (Qur’an, 5:2)”

“O ye who believe! Stand out firmly For Allah, as witnesses To fair dealing, and let not The hatred of others To you make you swerve To wrong and depart from Justice. Be just: that is Next to Piety: and fear Allah. For Allah is well-acquainted With all that ye do. (Qur’an, 5:8)”

“O you who believe, you shall reverence GOD, and be among the truthful.” (Qur’an 9:119)

“Allah commands justice, the doing Of good, and liberality to kith And kin, and He forbids All shameful deeds, and injustice And rebellion: He instructs you, That ye may receive admonition. (Qur’an, 16:90)”

“It is only those who believe not in the Ayah (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allah, who fabricate falsehood, and it is they who are liars.” (Qur’an 16:105)

“The submitting men, the submitting women, the believing men, the believing women, the obedient men, the obedient women, the truthful men, the truthful women, the steadfast men, the steadfast women, the reverent men, the reverent women, the charitable men, the charitable women, the fasting men, the fasting women, the chaste men, the chaste women, and the men who commemorate GOD frequently, and the commemorating women; GOD has prepared for them forgiveness and a great recompense.” (Qur’an 33:35)

“Truly Allah guides not one who transgresses and lies.” (Qur’an 40:28)

“Woe to each sinful dealer in Falsehoods: (Qur’an, 45:7)”

“Oh prophet! Accept the pledges of the believing women, when they come to take their oaths of allegiance to you. Provided, they pledge that they would not join any partners with Allah, would not steal, commit adultery or kill their children, and would not indulge in slander, and would not concoct lies on their own. Also, that they would not disobey you in what is right. Seek forgiveness for them from Allah! Certainly Allah is the most Forgiving and the most Merciful. (Qur’an, 60:12)”

What do the hadith say?

“Be honest because honesty leads to goodness, and goodness leads to Paradise. Beware of falsehood because it leads to immorality, and immorality leads to Hell.”

Abdullah bin Mas`ud (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (PBUH) said, “Truth leads to piety and piety leads to Jannah. A man persists in speaking the truth till he is enrolled with Allah as a truthful. Falsehood leads to vice and vice leads to the Fire (Hell), and a person persists on telling lies until he is enrolled as a liar”.’

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “The signs of the hypocrite are three: when he speaks, he lies; when he makes a promise, he breaks it; and when he is entrusted with something, he betrays that trust.” (Narrated by al-Bukhari, 33; Muslim, 59)

Hasan bin `Ali (May Allah be pleased with them) said: I remember (these words) from Messenger of Allah (PBUH): “Give up what is doubtful to you for that which is not doubtful; for truth is peace of mind and falsehood is doubt”. [At-Tirmidhi].

Hakim bin Hizam (May Allah be pleased with him) reported that: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: “Both parties in a business transaction have a right to annul it so long as they have not separated; and if they tell the truth and make everything clear to each other (i.e., the seller and the buyer speak the truth, the seller with regard to what is purchased, and the buyer with regard to the money) they will be blessed in their transaction, but if they conceal anything and lie, the blessing on their transaction will be eliminated.’‘
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

Another article points to some verses in the Qur’an that talk about what a believer should do to make up for a false oath:

” Allah will not call you to account for what is futile in your oaths, but He will call you to account for your deliberate oaths: for expiation, feed ten indigent persons, on a scale of the average for the food of your families; or clothe them; or give a slave his freedom. If that is beyond your means, fast for three days. That is the expiation for the oaths ye have sworn. But keep to your oaths. Thus doth Allah make clear to you His signs, that ye may be grateful.” Surah 5:89

“Allah will not call you to account for thoughtlessness (vain) in your oaths, but for the intention in your hearts; and He is Oft-forgiving, Most Forbearing.” Surah 2:225

“Any one who, after accepting faith in Allah, utters Unbelief, except under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in Faith - but such as open their breast to Unbelief, on them is Wrath from Allah, and theirs will be a dreadful Penalty.” Surah 16: 106

And, the author finds the following meaning in these verses: “These and similar passages from the Quran clearly reveal that Muslims’ unintentional lies are forgivable and that even their intentional lies can be absolved by performing extra duties. It is also clear that if forced to do so, Muslims can lie while under oath and can even falsely deny faith in Allah, as long as they maintain the profession of faith in their hearts.”

This is really nonsense. If a Catholic tells a lie, they can go to confession and the priest will assign a penance for the wrong they have done which does not mean that the Catholic Church is allowing Catholics to lie, or that Catholics cannot be trusted because they can atone for doing something wrong.

The Qur’an is realistic about human nature and the fact that we will stumble and fall, and provides opportunities for us to do penance for our mistakes.

I would point those who are determined to continually paint Islam as so wholly other as to be unintelligible to “civilized” people that discussions about whether or not it is ever permissable to lie, and the concept of the lesser of two evils have been discussed by Christian scholars over the centuries, and they too have come to varying opinions. In a discussion about moral absolutism on a Christian theology site the following argument is given:

“This position is probably the easiest to explain. When confronted with a moral dilemma, such as the midwives lying to protect the children or Rahab lying to protect the spies (see Joshua 2:1), what we must do is simply choose the lesser of two evils. In these two instances lying is the lesser sin than failing to protect the life of your neighbor. In these situations what we must do is admit that we had done wrong, repent, and ask God for forgiveness. In both of these situations God praised the women, not for their lying, but for their faith and doing the best they could in such a tough situation.”

As Rev. Frank Julian Gelli points out in an article regarding Geert Wilder’s use of the “taqiyya slander”

“Third, Christians too have accused each other of harbouring and fostering their own perverse taqiya teachings. Are acquainted with that formidable Frenchman, Blaise Pascal? The man who wrote the celebrated Provincial Letters? Pascal was a Jansenist, a stern, austere kind of Roman Catholic. Taking a dislike to the Jesuits – also devout and learned Catholics – he penned a sulphurous book. Imaginary conversations with Jesuit theologians. He accused Jesuits of teachings almost all the sins in the book. Especially of defending lying. And the breaking of oaths and solemn promises. Under the guise of unworthy tricks like equivocation and mental reservation. ‘It is the intention that stamps the moral quality of an action’ he makes his Jesuit say. So, “after saying in an audible voice ‘I swear I did not do this’ you may add inwardly ‘today’...Now this you must admit is telling the truth” Pascal’s straw man smugly affirms.

The Jesuits were indignant. They protested, they wrote back, they preached, they argued, they refuted. Even the anti-Catholic Voltaire said that Pascal had unfairly attributed to the Society of Jesus the extravagant opinions of a few writers. He had tarred all those excellent and holy priests over with the same brush. To no effect. Pascal’s satire was too much fun to be written off. His vitriol stuck.

Mr Wilders, does it all ring a bell? Aren’t you too perhaps, in your infinitely lower and jejune manner and status, doing a hatchet job on millions of ordinary, sincere and truth-telling Muslims? Besmirching their religion? I wonder.”

Catholic Answers has the following entry:

Q:“ Is it lying if you said something, discovered that it was wrong, then took it back? Is it still a sin?”

A: By definition, lying involves intentional deceit. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines a lie as follows: “A lie consists in speaking a falsehood with the intention of deceiving” (CCC 2482) and “To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead someone into error” (CCC 2483). Since you thought you were speaking the truth and then, after discovering your error, you corrected yourself, you are not guilty of lying. There is no sin in this.

Q: “ Is it always a sin to lie? For example, what if the Gestapo asked me if I had seen any Jews? Does the Church teach that I should tell the Nazi officer the truth even if it will result in suffering and death?”

A: The Catechism of the Catholic Church’s treatment on lying can be found in paragraphs 2475–2487. In a separate treatment of the subject that falls under the heading “Respect for the Truth” (2488–2492) the Catechism states:

The right to the communication of the truth is not unconditional. … This requires us in concrete situations to judge whether or not it is appropriate to reveal the truth to someone who asks for it. Charity and respect for the truth should dictate the response to every request for information or communication. The good and safety of others, respect for privacy, and the common good are sufficient reasons for being silent about what ought not be known or for making use of a discreet language. … No one is bound to reveal the truth to someone who does not have the right to know it. (CCC 2488–2489).

This means there can be cases in which it is morally licit to reserve the truth. Avoiding giving the location of people in danger of being murdered would be one such case. A person in such a situation should try to avoid directly lying, if possible; however, fear for the safety of innocents and the unjust external pressure brought to bear on him could mitigate against culpability should he inadvertently cross the line to lying.

The Divine Life Christian site has an entry Can we lie to save lives? which includes the following:

The answer is that telling an untruth in such a situation is not a lie, and therefore it can be moral to be deceptive in such situations. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines a “lie” in the following way:

To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead into error someone who as the right to know the truth. (CCC 2483)

So there are three conditions that have to be in place to make a statement a lie:

(1) “Speak or act against the truth”: In other words, the words or actions have to be not true.

(2) “In order to lead into error”: A misspoken word or erroneous statement said in ignorance is not a lie.

(3) “someone who as the right to know the truth”: Here is the key component for the situation we are discussing: does a Nazi guard or Planned Parenthood employee who plans to kill an innocent life have the right to the truth? Of course not.

So we cannot “lie” to save a life, but we can tell an untruth if necessary, but in doing so, that is not a lie.

An article on lying on another Christian site includes the following in a section on “graded absolutism”

Both Luther and Paher could be classified theologically as “graded absolutists.” A graded absolutist believes that there are many moral absolutes taught in the Bible and that they sometimes conflict. He believes there are higher moral laws taught in the Bible and when moral laws conflict, one is under obligation to follow the higher law. Therefore, according to those who hold this position, lying is sometimes right because showing mercy to the innocent is a greater moral duty than telling the truth to the guilty. For instance, while listening to a religious radio station, I heard a denominational preacher teaching a lesson on the need to lie under certain circumstances. Like Paher, he used the story of Rahab the harlot to substantiate his teaching. This shows earthly wisdom on the part of these teachers, because even among those who know that the Bible condemns lying, the truth of what Rahab did (viz., she lied), and the fact she is mentioned in a positive manner in the New Testament, has caused some perplexity among God’s people (cf. Hebrews 12:31 and James 2:25).

The Jewish Law site has an article Should Moral Individuals Ever Lie? Insights from Jewish Law which includes this statements

There are four important Talmudic texts that deal with the issue of permissible deceptions. The first is the following (Babylonian Talmud, Yebamoth 65b).

Rabbi Ille’a said in the name of Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon: It is permitted for a person to deviate from the truth in the interest of peace, as it says (Genesis 50: 16-17): “Your father [Jacob] commanded before his death, saying: So shall you say to Joseph, ‘O Please forgive the offense of your brothers and their sin for they have treated you so wickedly.’”

Rabbi Nathan said it is a commandment [to deviate from the truth in the interest of peace], as it says (I Samuel 16:2): “And Samuel said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.’”

At the Academy of Rabbi Yishmael it was taught: Great is the cause of peace, seeing that for its sake, even the Holy One, blessed be He, changed the truth, for at first it is written (Genesis 18:12), ‘My lord [i.e., husband Abraham] is old, while afterward it is written (18:13), “And I am old.” ...

This article discusses in great deal many Biblical passages, and many Rabbinical commentaries on lying in various circumstances, and closes with:

This paper demonstrates that Jewish law does not take an absolutist approach to prevaricating and, indeed, will obligate the individual to lie in various circumstances, for instance, lying to save a life or to bring peace. This, by no means, makes light of the seriousness of lying. The Talmud is replete with statements that stress the importance of truth-telling and remarks that “the seal of God is emeth [truth]” (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 55a); “God hates one who speaks one thing with his mouth and another thing in his heart” (Babylonian Talmud, Pesachim 113b); “Whoever breaks his word is regarded as though he has worshipped idols” (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 92a); and “liars will not receive the Divine Presence (Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 42a).” The extreme importance of honesty is appropriately summed up by the Talmudic belief that the first question a person is asked in the hereafter at the final judgment is (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a): “Have you been honest in your dealings?” Despite all this, the Talmud recognizes that there are situations where one may be untruthful.