Islamic Muslim's Sharia Law TAQIYYA
Closely associated with shariah doctrine on lying is the concept of taqiyya, which is generally described as lying for the sake of Islam.
Taqiyya is a concept in Islamic law that translates as “deceit or dissimulation,” particularly towards infidels.
It is based on Quran 3:28 and 16:106 as well as hadiths, tafsir literature, and judicial commentaries that permit and encourage precautionary dissimulation as a means for hiding true faith in times of persecution or deception when penetrating the enemy camp.
Take, for example, Quran 3:28: “Let not the believers take the disbelievers as friends instead of the believers, and whoever does that, will never be helped by Allah in any way, unless you indeed fear a danger from them. And Allah warns you against Himself, and to Allah is the final return.” (Emphasis added.)
According to the authoritative Arabic text, Al-Taqiyya fi Al-Islam:
Taqiyya [deception] 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, and that those few sects not practicing it diverge from the mainstream. … Taqiyya is very prevalent in Islamic politics, especially in the modern era.150
The authoritative commentary on the Quran, Tafsir Ibn Kathir 151 notes the prohibition on “taking disbelievers as friends” then explains the Quranic phrase “unless you indeed fear a danger from them”:
The Prohibition of Supporting the Disbelievers. Allah prohibited His servants from becoming supporters of the disbelievers, or to take them as comrades with whom they develop friendships, rather than believers. Allah warned against such behavior when He stated… “unless you indeed fear a danger from them” meaning, except those believers who in some areas or times fear for their safety from the disbelievers. In this case, such believers are allowed to show friendship to the disbelievers outwardly, but never inwardly…. “We smile in the face of some people although our hearts curse them.”
Another authoritative Arabic text, Al-Taqiyya fi Al-Islam, states definitively the standing taqiyya enjoys in shariah:
Taqiyya [deception] 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, and that those few sects not practicing it diverge from the mainstream. … Taqiyya is very prevalent in Islamic politics, especially in the modern era.152
A respected modern-day authority on Islam, William Gawthrop, has observed in connection with the practice of taqiyya:
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, [is permissible] to save oneself from physical and/or mental injury. Taqiyya has been used by Muslims since the 7th century to confuse and split ‘the enemy.’ One result is the ability to maintain two messages, one to the faithful while obfuscation and denial is sent – and accepted – to the non-Muslim audience.153
It is worth noting how closely this language from Gawthrop’s “Islam’s Tools of Penetration” maps to the language used by Omar Ahmad, an unindicted co-conspirator154 in the HLF Trial when discussing separating the information role of CAIR from the operations role of the Holy Land Foundation. From the transcript of a secretly recorded meeting in Philadelphia which was identified as “Philly Meeting – 15,” and entered into evidence in the U.S. v. HLF trial,155
Ahmad had this to say regarding an information campaign against the United States:
Omar Ahmad: I believe that our problem is that we stopped working underground. We will recognize the source of any message which comes out of us. I mean, if a message is publicized, we will know…, the media person among us will recognize that you send two messages; one to the Americans and one to the Muslims. If they found out who said that – even four years later – it will cause a discredit to the Foundation as far as the Muslims are concerned as they say “Look, he used to tell us about Islam and that is a cause and stuff while he, at the same time, is shooting elsewhere.”
Ray Ibrahim, another contemporary scholar on Islam, quoted one of the principal Quranic authorities to address this circumstance:
Al-Tabari’s (d. 923) famous tafsir (exegesis of the Koran) is a standard and authoritative reference work in the entire Muslim world. Regarding [the Quranic Sura] 3:28, he writes: “If you [Muslims] are under their [infidels'] authority, fearing for yourselves, behave loyally to them, with your tongue, while harboring inner animosity for them.…Allah has forbidden believers from being friendly or on intimate terms with the infidels in place of believers – except when infidels are above them [in authority]. In such a scenario, let them act friendly towards them.”156
Regarding 3:28, Ibn Kathir (d. 1373, second in authority only to Tabari) writes, “Whoever at any time or place fears their [infidels'] evil may protect himself through outward show.” As proof of this, he quotes Mohammed's close companion, Abu Darda, who said, “Let us smile to the face of some people [non-Muslims] while our hearts curse them”; another companion, al-Hassan, said, “Doing taqiyya is acceptable till the Day of Judgment [i.e., in perpetuity].”157
Taqiyya in Practice
A classic example of the shariah practice of taqiyya can be found in the dual messaging of Yousuf al-Qaradawi, best known as the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. For an intended Muslim audience, he wrote in the Saudi Gazette on June 11, 2010:
…The acceptance of secularism means abandonment of shariah, a denial of the divine guidance and a rejection of Allah's injunctions….For this reason, the call for secularism among Muslims is atheism and a rejection of Islam. Its acceptance as a basis for rule in place of shariah is downright apostasy….158
At an earlier “Democracy and Political Reform” conference held in Qatar in June 2004, al-Qaradawi also declared: “There are those who maintain that democracy is the rule of the people, but we want the rule of Allah.”159
In these two instances, al-Qaradawi’s rejection of Western-style liberal democracy could not have been more clearly stated. He was making these statements in his role as an Islamic jurist, providing legal opinions specifically sourced back to the Quran and shariah. This is not the message he gives to other audiences, however. For instance, during a January 2010 interview in the Egyptian newspaper, Al-Shorouk, he saw advantage for the Muslim Brotherhood and shariah in extolling the virtues of democracy – as a means of ending the rule of President Hosni Mubarak (who mostly suppresses the Muslim Brotherhood) and bringing the Ikhwan to power: “Egypt will not regain its status, its wellbeing and its role unless it opens the windows of freedom. It must open the doors completely and make way for [new] figures and competition as real democracy is the solution, not fake [democracy].”160
Similarly, in the Brotherhood’s online forum, IslamOnline.net, which is published in English and aimed at a Western audience, al-Qaradawi went so far as to suggest that shariah actually embraces democracy: “Islam calls for democracy and grants people the right to choose their governor.”161 In short, what Muslim audiences are required to know about Islam is not the same thing as what non-Muslim Western audiences are allowed to know – or encouraged to think – by Islamic authorities. Taqiyya provides the legal basis under shariah for this sort of deceptive dual messaging.
The practice of taqiyya is sometimes erroneously described as one in which only Shiites engage. While it is true that the Shiites, being the minority sect in Islam, have historically had reason to engage in deception (i.e., to conceal their religious identity from the majority Sunni population who would otherwise persecute them), Sunni Muslims living in the West are themselves in the minority among societies full of non-Muslims. Shariah is permissive of their lying in such conditions.
Such examples from shariah sources should suffice to alert national security professionals to the mainstream position of Islamic doctrine on the subject of lying. In view of the Prophet Mohammed’s statement that “War is deceit,” and cognizant of the requirement under shariah for Dar al-Islam to be in a constant state of animosity, hatred, and jihad with Dar al-Harb until “all religion belongs to Allah,” it is imperative that those whose duty it is to protect the United States. from shariah grasp the centrality of taqiyya in the arsenal of its adherents.
This is critical because the consequences of taqiyya extend to real world issues related, for example, to Muslim overtures for interfaith dialogue, peace and mutual tolerance – all of which must be viewed in the light of Islamic doctrine on lying.
This is not an argument for trusting or mistrusting someone in any particular instance. It is, though, an argument for professionals to be aware of these facts, to realize that they are dealing with an enemy whose doctrine allows – and at times even requires – them not to disclose fully all that they know and deliberately to misstate that which they know to be the truth.
As is discussed at greater length below, American officials charged with national and homeland security have a duty to understand that which is within the sphere of their professional competence. For anyone with such responsibilities, knowledge of these attributes of Shariah is a requirement.