The Muslims For America group was distributing the above flier at the Conservative Political Conference; you can read the full text here. In 2009, when Pamela Geller brought Geert Wilders to CPAC with my assistance, Muslims For America distributed a flier claiming that Wilders had -- you guessed it -- taken Qur'an verses out of context in his film Fitna. So during my address that night I took the Tafsir al-Jalalayn, a mainstream Muslim commentary on the Qur'an, and showed that Wilders' explanation of the verses was entirely correct and in accord with mainstream Islamic understandings.
Perhaps still smarting from that very public debunking, Muslims For America included a gratuitous ad hominem attack against me, as well as Pamela Geller and Frank Gaffney, in this year's flier about taqiyya. More importantly, like Qasim Rashid in the Washington Post a couple of weeks ago, they're lying about lying in Islam. Did some marching orders go out from somewhere telling Islamic spokesmen in the West to start blowing out billows of fog about divinely-sanctioned deception in Islam?
In any case, the Muslims For America flier asserts:
TAQIYYA is a concept being heard frequently today, the idea that Muslims have a universal practice of "Taqiyya" that allows them to conceal their faith of Islam or lie to non-Muslims, for the sake of expanding the Islamic religion - a practice that commentators like Frank Gaffney, Pamela Geller, and Robert Spencer have purported to be highly practiced, with such practice particularly hinted against American Muslims, who are currently ascending our political stratospheres.The Truth on Taqiyya?
The word "Taqiyya" does not exist in the Quran. In addition, there is no Islamic code of law that universally recognizes "Taqiyya" or encourages its practice.
The origin of Taqiyya, as discussed by scholars like John Esposito and Shafique Virani, is mentioned as an offshoot practice of some Shia Muslim populations, in which, Shia Imams like Muhammad Al-Baqir, of around 1256 CE, seem to have encouraged their congregations to conceal their Shia backgrounds, out of fear of mass-killing deliberately aimed against Shias. Of note, many Shia Muslims have lived as a minority and documentation of the unfortunate and sad persecution against them is well noted.
In turn, Muhammad Al-Baqir is one of thousands of Imams to have preached his interpretation of the Quran, just as any Minister would preach his understanding of our good Bible towards his congregation.
Yes - Islam does allow Imams to preach their understandings of the Quran, but such preaching is never recognized as Islamic Code, rather, it is simply the musings of one Muslim practitioner, not God.
For commentators to stretch the words of a handful of Imams, like Muhammad Al-Baqir, and pass it off as universally-practiced Islamic code, is the height of intellectual dishonesty and lie.
Nothing works against Muslims For America and our efforts to get Muslims united against thugs like Al-Quaida, more than political commentators who question our good deeds in making sure that America wins the War on Terror.
This all sounds great. And certainly taqiyya as a specific concept was indeed elaborated by Shias who were under threat from Sunnis. But the concept itself is rooted in the Qur'an, and consequently is found among both Sunnis and Shi'ites.
Qur'an 3:28 warns believers not to take unbelievers as "friends or helpers" (َأَوْلِيَا -- a word that means more than casual friendship, but something like alliance), "unless (it be) that ye but guard yourselves against them." This is a foundation of the idea that believers may legitimately deceive unbelievers when under pressure. The word used for "guard" in the Arabic is tuqātan (تُقَاةً), the verbal noun from taqiyyatan -- hence the increasingly familiar term taqiyya.
Ibn Kathir says that the phrase Pickthall renders as "unless (it be) that ye but guard yourselves against them" means that "believers who in some areas or times fear for their safety from the disbelievers" may "show friendship to the disbelievers outwardly, but never inwardly. For instance, Al-Bukhari recorded that Abu Ad-Darda' said, 'We smile in the face of some people although our hearts curse them.' Al-Bukhari said that Al-Hasan said, 'The Tuqyah [taqiyya] is allowed until the Day of Resurrection." While many Muslim spokesmen today maintain that taqiyya is solely a Shi'ite doctrine, shunned by Sunnis, the great Islamic scholar Ignaz Goldziher points out that while it was formulated by Shi'ites, "it is accepted as legitimate by other Muslims as well, on the authority of Qur'an 3:28." The Sunnis of Al-Qaeda practice it today.
Also, there is Muhammad's statement, "war is deceit." He also allowed for lying in battle and between a husband and wife. And when he gave permission to one of his followers, Muhammad bin Maslama, to murder one of his critics, Ka'b bin al-Ashraf, he also gave Muhammad bin Maslama permission to lie to Ka'b in order to lure him close enough to be killed.
And Muhammad is the "excellent example of conduct" for Muslims (Qur'an 33:21).
So why is Muslims For America lying about lying in Islam? And why did CPAC give them a platform?
Pamela Geller has another angle on this story here.
Muslims seem obsessed with the spilling of blood as a prerequisite to be honored....The Qur'an authorizes it..
What false advertising ...
Followers of muhammad (muslims) will stop at nothing in presenting more lies about themselves and islam. This is just some new twist in their campaign to present islam as a religion of peace. No, it is NOT a religion of peace; but it's a religion of death & destruction of true democracy, and the death & destruction of precious lives and freedoms.
The ill-informed may fall for this false flier, but not those whom know the truth about islam, the qur'an, and the truth about muhammad as well.
Muslims for America needs a copy editor.
- They used "whose" incorrectly.
- They could only come up with ONE name, so they should not use the plural "Muslims". A single Muslim shed his blood for America. More than one Muslim soldier has deliberately killed his fellow American soldiers.
What does that say about the Muslim community, that they could only come up with one name?
The Quran has NO global context!
Thre is only the “Doctrine of Abrogation (Naskh)
http://schnellmann.org/abrogation.html
Pat Condell "To explain or to interpret the Quran is surely an attempt to undermine the pure word of God. To adulterate it with a human perspective ..."
http://schnellmann.org/#Quran_a_Book_out_of_Context
"clear book" (5:15)
"easy to understand" (44:58, 54:22, 54:32, 54:40)
"explained in detail" (6:114) "conveyed clearly" (5:16, 10:15)
... and with "no doubt" in it (2:2)
The apologists do not realize that what they say is apostasy!
Claiming that the Quran CANNOT be understood is NOT CLEAR and needs is disbelieving in the Quran ITSELF.
"... and the best of planners (i.e. deceiver) is Allah." (Q.3:54, Q.8:30)
There is a sickness in the GOP. Even Rush Limbaugh was silent on this outrage today as he discussed CPAC at length. It is so sad to see national conservative spokesmen like Limbaugh hide from reality.
I get the impression that more American soldiers were killed by their moslem "brothers in arms" than there were moslem Americans who spilled their blood for America.
As said, that is my impression and I would like to hear from better informed if I am right.
Although we normally associate Muslims with left-wing politics, they will also quite happily infiltrate and subvert Conservative organisations, as the following example from England illustrates: http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2007/10/emergence-of-conservative-muslim.html
The US army could have done well without Kareem Rasheed Sultan Khan.
That alibi gravestone is all over the world. Big deal!
3 words, "religion of peace". Next…
What a bunch of hooey! ONE Muslim? Incredible. Man, they are desperate.
The logical falacy of that poster is exposed by the following question.
Did Osama Bin Laden spill his blood for Jihad?
Never have to have these arcane discussions with any religion but Islam about what a religious term, in this case, "taqiyya," really, really means, with life and truth all the while hanging in the balance.
Telling. Damning. Disgusting. So tiring. Sick of it, as I am of Islam, all of it.
The duplicity of the Muslim. It's found in every one of them.
And in towering contra-distinction, consider the words of the true Lord, "Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one." Matthew 5:37.
Straightforward, simple, honest.
I read the page you posted. One of those lines is itself an example of intentional deception (on the part of translators or the references they used, not you).
" and the best of planners (i.e. deceiver) is Allah." (Q.3:54, Q.8:30)
The arabic of "planners" is makr (or makir). The sentance of 3:54 is "Wamakaroo waMAKARA Allahu waAllahu khayru alMAKIREENA. (caps made by me)
The literal translation is: And they cheated/deceived and God cheated/deceived, and God (is) the best (of) the cheaters/deceivers.
Makr (or makir) only ever means to decieve and is only ever used in negative context. It does not mean plan or strategise.
And not only that but:
Sometimes in tranlsations of 3:45 "Jews" is used, not the word "unbelievers". All of the following are published translations of 3:45
And (the Jews) planned and Allah (also) planned
And the Jews devised a stratagem against him; but God devised a stratagem against them; and God is the best deviser of stratagems
And the Jews plotted, and God plotted
But they (the Jews) were crafty, and God was crafty, for God is the best of crafty ones!
and this beauty:
And they (disbelievers) plotted (to kill Iesa (Jesus) ), and Allah planned too. And Allah is the Best of the planners.
There are many other accepted translations of that passage, all quite different.
Could it be that the original word that is translated to be unbeliever in english actually mean jew in original arabic?
Could it be that whenever arabs say "unbeliever" or "disbeliver" they are really saying "jews"? That would put the koran in an even worse light. It would also explain the all the obsessive anti semetism.
Does the alliterated word Wamakaroo mean jew or unbeliever?
I am not a translator so perhaps someone associated with this site who's knowledgable with arabic or the koran could clarify and make more sense out of what I related in this comment.
Any of you TomfromUSAwhosNotaJihadiIswear types, don't bother chiming in. This is a thread about deception already and we've gotten particularly skilled at seeing thru BS.
The flier is fallacious and misleading because it suggests that Mr. Spencer, Frank Gaffney, and Pamela Geller have claimed that all Muslims are de facto threats to security and un-patriotic. As far as I know, they have NEVER made such statements. To impugn them with having made such remarks is libelous. Correct me if I am wrong, but the point they make is that it is the traditional, orthodox interpretation of Islamic texts that poses the threat, and that it is necessary to understand the threat to us that adherence to these texts poses. I have NEVER seen any statement made by Robert Spencer that would make me think he feels otherwise.
From another standpoint. I personally have met three immigrant Muslims, and several American-born Muslims, who are in the USMC and who are, as far as I can ascertain, exemplary in their conduct. I wouldn't expect any of them to pull a "Major Hassan" on their fellow servicemen.
That being said, there are also Muslims in the service who have betrayed their country. I would refuse to see ALL Muslims, or those of Muslim origin, as threats, though I have met at least two recruiters who tell me they don't trust Muslim would-be recruits and do what they can to turn them away. I suppose being a Marine Corps recruiter in Dearborn, Michigan following 9/11 was a rather thankless position.
Whoops! I meant- Does the TRANSLITERATED word Wamakaroo mean jew or unbeliever?
goddamnit! THE TRANSLATIONS ARE OF LINE 54 NOT 45. I'm sorry for my innacuracy. Here is the article about that:
http://www.wikiislam.net/wiki/Allah_the_best_Deceiver
"Sick of it, as I am of Islam, all of it."
Oh yeah. When's it going to go away? Can't be too soon.
@mike ryan re "I suppose being a Marine Corps recruiter in Dearborn, Michigan following 9/11 was a rather thankless position."
I hear it was actually good hunting grounds. There are lots of Christian Arabs there, as well.
While the total number of Muslims in the armed forces is (perhaps) slightly below their likely nationwide average (we don't know, because we don't know how many Muslims there are in the U.S.), the difference cannot be much. African American Muslims, in particular, have been well represented.
And let's not forget those many, many thousands of Iraqi and Afghani Muslims who are fighting alongside U.S. and coalition forces, trying to build something for themselves, their families, and their countries.
Their risks are often far greater than our own.
For a moving account of the death of one much loved Iraqi soldier, please read Michael Yon on the death of his friend (and note what the fate suffered by his family):
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/our-muslim-friends-suffer-too.htm
Man does that poster make me mad. For a bit of politics, it dishonors the death of Corporal Khan. It is just cheap.
> jcl
If a 1,000 Christians spilled their blood for Islam, would it change the fact that Islam believes The Bible to be a falsified text? No.
So, what's the death of an American Muslim soldier to do with the fact that Islam teaches violent jihad and taqqiya?
There's no logical connection between the photo content and the 'religion' of Islam. It's not lying to say that taqiyya still exists and is an active ingredient of the poison, Islam, just because of this photo.
How about printing a leaflet with images of the eleven American soldiers murdered by an American moslem soldier Major Hassan?
And no, there is no comparison between their death and Sultan Khan.
Sultan Khan died soldier's death - the price some must pay for nation to live. Meaningful death - if there is one. Source of consolation and pride for his family and honour to his memory.
But the lives of the 11 soldiers were stolen, wasted and desecrated. Their right of dying meaningful and good death - death for their country and in support of truth and goodness was stolen from them by low life traitor.
I think that if during the WWll justification was found to send Japanese-Americans to internment camps there must be enough common sense left to justify barring moslems from entering American armed forces - at least for as long islam wages war on the US.
"The word "Taqiyya" does not exist in the Quran. In addition, there is no Islamic code of law that universally recognizes "Taqiyya" or encourages its practice."
Oh, it's the traditional "it's not in the Qur'an" defense, relying on the ignorance of the kuffar audience who does not know that there is all sorts of stuff in Islam which is not in the Qur'an. Islam depends on three sources- the Qur'an, the aHadith (4 collections of the sayings of Mohammed (collected long after his death) and the Sira (the biography of the prophet).
In addition to that, the conduct of Mohammed is an example to Muslims on which to model their own lives. I want Muslims reading this to cover their ears and sing "oh la de da" why I explain that Mohammed, Allah's Messenger was a fibber.
Ooo, they came up with one name - and that one's probably questionable as it is. Oh, I just love it when johnny-come-latelies, or those who were in such a tiny minority of the whole group (ie, a handful of oddballs doing something none of the rest of them had the least bit of interest in doing) just have to jump up and yell "We helped too! We helped too!"
Have Frank Gaffney, Pamela Geller, or Robert Spencer spilled their blood for our American freedoms?
No, but they've placed their lives in mortal danger, and for paltry wages at that.
Who's guilty of "taquiyya" now?
Allah. And the late, grate, Tim Russert's Holy Prophet Mohammed.
What lie did Gaffney, Geller and Spencer get caught telling, I don't get the joke on this poster...
What you're is saying quite correct, Robert. I have often wondered why Sunnis always claim that taqqiyya is a concept purportedly devised by Shia Muslims, and the conclusion you draw there derives from the content of the Quran itself. The historical context is there, and Muhammed practiced the deceit on many levels, and therefore it is widely known to Muslims so it is their duty to practice it, also. And as a matter of fact, Shia Muslims don't question the content of the Quran either, to them it has the same authority. So the basic concept has always been there for Muslims to follow, the only mention of taqqiyya as a specific term to describe the practice simply originated from the fact that when Shia Muslims felt they needed to practice it to stave off Sunni persecution, this met with resentment from Sunnis. Of course that would be logical: Sunnis hate heretical Shi'ites, it would be quite self-evident that a Sunni Muslim would feel double crossed when a Shi'ite would turn the same Quranic deceit against them. Because after all, the practice would originally be specifically devised to deceive all unbelievers.
'How dare Shi'ites claim themselves to be genuine Muslims AND at the same time screw us over with the same methods we use against unbelievers ?' That's basically the main idea that goes around in the seething brain of a Sunni imam. And last but not least, the very claim that it would be exclusively Shi'ite by nature is simply a ruse of Sunni imams to go mollifying all Westerners who either suspect that it is part and parcel of Islam, or those that are educated enough to have verified that it IS an integral part of Islamic doctrine.
Something like that would only work in the juvenile mind of the PC/MC MSM and gobbledygook dispersing pseudo-intellectuals, who never bother to check the facts anyway, because the myth of Islam as a religion of peace has to be kept alive at all cost.
Jesus, of the original Bible (not rewritten by Mohammad in the 7th Century), called satan the "father of lies" and that those who practice deceit are sons of the father of lies.