Taqiyya: License to Lie?

Trust is a basic element for human beings to live together amicably in a multicultural society. It is unsurprising then that propaganda that has driven societies towards genocide often focuses on depicting a minority group as inherently dishonest and dangerous. Nazi propaganda prior to the Holocaust focused on repeating old stereotypes of Jews as dishonest and untrustworthy in their dealings.

The contemporary Islamophobia industry has deployed the exact same stereotypes in its characterization of the Islamic faith and its community of 1.6 billion Muslims. Here we explore the lies around the Islamophobic rhetoric by debunking the myths and drawing attention to what the correct Islamic concepts are.

Definitions of Arabic words

What Islamophobes say: All Muslims are liars!!!! Sharia is a barbaric code of laws that preach backwards punishments and deprive women of their rights. Jihad is holy war and terrorism to take over the world. Muslims are required by Islamic doctrine to lie to others about their religion this is called taqiyya.

Sharia is a path towards God that aims to establish mercy, justice and wisdom in people’s lives and always requires fiqh (scholarly interpretation of how best to apply the rulings). Fiqh is dynamic and changes with time and place.

Jihad is striving for justice, truth, for the sake of God — including both external and internal striving.

“The best Jihad is a word of truth spoken to a tyrant.”Musnad Aḥmad 18449

“The mujahid is one who does jihad against himself.”Musnad Ahmad 23445

“Fighting is permitted only to defend oneself or rescue the oppressed”Qur’an 22:39-40, 4:75

Taqiyya is a ruling to allow concealment of faith when under threat of religious persecution or fear for life.

Reference: Qur’an Al-Nahl - 16:06

Debunked: Islamophobes exploit Arabic words by reiterating perverted meanings assigned by terrorists. This ignores the mainstream Muslim interpretation and use of those words.

Taqiyya – proof of deceit?

What Islamophobes say: Taqiyya! Taqiyya! Taqiyya! Look at taqiyya... Islam clearly condones lying! All Muslims are liars!

Qur’an

So who is more unjust than one who lies about Allah and denies the truth when it has come to him?Qur’an 39:32

Hadith

(documented quotes of the Prophet ﷺ): Ayesha, wife of the Prophet ﷺ said,

“There was no behavior more hateful to the Messenger of Allah than dishonesty. A man would lie when narrating something in the presence of the Prophet and he would not be satisfied until he knew that he had repented.”

Debunked: Islamophobes ignore that nowhere does Islam grant Muslims general permission to lie. In fact, Islam strongly condemns dishonesty.

Exposing the liar narrative

What Islamophobes say: All Muslims are liars! Don’t believe anything they say! We can’t trust them! We can’t trust Muslims. Some of them may be good, but too many of them have a secret agenda to collectively launch jihad. It’s all a part of their doctrine, that’s what they’re programmed to do.

The Muslim community is a diverse group that is being denied the right to express their own narrative.

Debunked: Islamophobes begin by defining and imposing their definitions of Islamic terms to fit their own narrative, then demand that Muslims reject the terms and texts as they have portrayed them, or accuse them of lying for clarifying meanings.

Setting the record straight

What Islamophobes say: There is no such thing as Islamophobia! These Muslims invent lies to delude us. Islamophobia is a buzz word to shut down critical discussions about Islam!

The Islamophobic use of taqiyya shuts down the Muslim perspective in any “critical discussions.”

Debunked: Islamophobes are not seeking “critical discussion”. They accuse Muslims of coining terms to stop discussion, while they invent their own meanings for pre-existing Islamic terms and do not accept the actual mainstream Muslim definitions.

Conclusion

The Islamophobic strategy is to destroy Islam’s credibility without allowing any room for rebuttal. They employ a catch-22 tactic: “Islam is a terrible religion that calls for terrible acts based on these Islamic definitions. If you disagree with these definitions, you are lying because all Muslims are liars and are required by Islamic doctrine to employ taqiyya.” This leaves no room for Muslims to express the narrative of the vast majority of mainstream Muslims.

Ultimate truth

Islamophobes actually aren’t concerned about any truths concerning the Muslim community or Islam in the first place. They simply evade intelligent debate by calling all Muslim liars.

From the article: Playing the Taqiyya Card: Evading Intelligent Debate by Calling all Muslims Liars at yaqeeninstitute.org