The Washington Post, as credulous and eager to be misled by Islamic supremacists as ever, offers up taqiyya about taqiyya from some of the nation’s leading taqiyya artists.
Qur’an 3:28 warns believers not to take unbelievers as “friends or helpers,” “unless that you 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 tuqatan, the verbal noun from taqiyyatan — hence the increasingly familiar term taqiyya.
Ibn Kathir says that the phrase “unless that you 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.” Abu Ad-Darda’ was a companion of Muhammad.
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).
“Ben Carson’s claim that ‘taqiyya’ encourages Muslims ‘to lie to achieve your goals,’” by Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, September 22, 2015 (thanks to Neil):
…As he put it, “Taqiyya is a component of Shia that allows, and even encourages you to lie to achieve your goals.” (This is how the quote appeared in the Hill newspaper, but “Shia” may be a typo for “Sharia.”)In other words, he appeared to be saying that this tenet of Islam offered some kind of loophole that would allow the Muslim to lie about his or her religious beliefs in order to pursue other objectives. Is this the case?
The FactsIf you scroll across the Internet, or just stick “taqiyya” into a Twitter search, you will stumble across many videos and articles from groups hostile to Islam arguing that “taqiyya” is central to Islam and permits a Muslim to lie with impunity to nonbelievers. The argument largely stems from two parts of the Koran:
“Whoever expresses disbelief in God after having accepted belief [will suffer greatly] – except him who is forced while his heart is still at peace in belief” (16:106)
“Let not the believers take unbelievers for their allies in preference to believers. Whoever does this has no connection with God, unless you but guard yourselves against them as a precaution.” (3:28)
But experts in Islamic law say that these Internet scholars have completely corrupted the meaning of the words.
No kidding, really? The “experts” say that? What a surprise! And of course the Washington Post wouldn’t dare quote anyone who disagreed. That would be “Islamophobic.”
The word “taqiyya” derives from the Arabic words for “piety” and “fear of God” and indicates when a person is in a state of caution, said Khaled Abou El Fadl, a professor of law at the University of California at Los Angeles and a leading authority on Islam.
And Khaled Abou El Fadl is as honest as the day as long, no? Well, let’s see: Andrew Bostom accuses him of “disingenuous revisionism,” and Daniel Pipes calls him a “stealth Islamist.”
Essentially, the Koran suggests that a person who faces religious persecution can withhold the identity of their faith in order to avoid bodily harm or death. The concept was particularly embraced by Shiites, who took steps to hide their religious beliefs from the majority Sunnis. But some Sunnis also practiced taqiyya, particularly the Moriscos, Muslims who were forced to convert to Catholicism in Spain during the 1500s.
The concept is also not unknown to other religions. Jews in Spain during the Inquisition also pretended to convert to Catholicism.
“Yes, it is permissible to hide the fact you are Muslim” if a person is under threat, “as long as it does not involve hurting another person,” Abou El Fadl said. “But there is no concept that would encourage a Muslim to lie to pursue a goal. That is a complete invention. Any Muslim is raised on the idea that lying is a sin.”
Khaled Abou El Fadl is choosing his words carefully. What constitutes enough of a “threat” to allow for lying? What “goal” would be unacceptable for a Muslim to pursue by lying? He doesn’t explain; he just wants Kessler to get the impression that Carson is wrong. The 20th-century Pakistani Islamic scholar and politician Syed Abul Ala Maududi was clearer and more honest. He wrote this about Qur’an 3:28: “This means that is lawful for a believer, helpless in the grip of the enemies of Islam and in imminent danger of severe wrong and persecution, to keep his faith concealed and to behave in such a way as to create the impression that he is on the same side as his enemies.” What constitutes “severe wrong and persecution” is a subjective judgment. Might a Muslim spokesman or politician in the U.S. conceal certain elements of Islam and of his own intentions out of a desire to protect the Muslim community from “Islamophobia” and the foster the growth of Islam in the U.S.? Why not?
“It is a dispensation within some aspects of Shia law, which was developed out of the experience of a persecuted religious minority,” said Omid Safi, director of the Duke University Islamic Studies Center. “In brief, it states to value human life over declaration of faith. It is the proverbial question: If a Shia is being persecuted, and someone holds a gun to your head asking ‘are you a Shia?’ you are allowed to say ‘no’ in order to save a human life.”
Your own, that is. In any case, the WaPo’s Glenn Kessler is consulting quite a rogue’s gallery of dishonest Islamic supremacists: first Khaled Abou El Fadl, and now Omid Safi. Omid Safi is supremely arrogant and dishonest — to such an appalling extent that he has even falsely claimed that I threatened to kill him and his family, and of course refused to retract. This came after I dared to challenge his smear of me with the manipulative Muslim Brotherhood neologism of “Islamophobe” and offered to come to the class where he was slandering me and engage in discussion and debate with him and his students.
Another expert on Islamic law, Noah Feldman of Harvard Law School, agreed that Carson’s comment was “very much oversimplified to the point of misrepresentation.” As Feldman put it, “taqiyya is dissimulation when one is being oppressed or tortured or having one’s views banned, a bit like Jesuit dispensation to lie under oath when your life is in danger.”
Can’t Kessler find even one honest person to quote? Feldman helped create the Iraqi constitution that enshrined Sharia as the highest law of the land. At the time, he published a lengthy exposition of what Sharia was all about in the New York Times. In it, he never once mentioned the Sharia provisions mandating second-class status (dhimmitude) for Christians and conversion or death for non-Muslims not considered “People of the Book,” such as Yezidis.
Safi said “the Taqiyya conversation is today part and parcel of the Islamophobic attack against American Muslims,” in which no matter what a Muslim says, he or she can’t be trusted.
“If an American Muslim (or Muslim more generally) says that they want to kill Americans, we take them at face value,” said Safi as an example of the Catch-22. “If an American Muslim (or Muslims more generally) says that they are committed to American democratic principles and pluralism, we state that they are of course lying, and hoping to achieve nefarious goals.”
Hussein Ibish, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute, said that the claim made little sense because Islam is a proselytizing religion, like Christianity. “You’re supposed to preach it from the rooftops and the minarets” in order to gain adherents, not keep the religion a secret, he said. Advocates of the alternative version of taqiyya have “dragged a rather obscure and marginal concept out of the corner” to make broad-brush accusations against Muslims, he said.
Apparently Kessler cannot indeed find even one honest man to quote. Way back in 2002 or 2003 I was on a radio show with Ibish. When I mentioned that the Qur’an calls disobedient Jews apes and pigs, Ibish said flatly, “That’s not in the Qur’an.” Well, you lying Islamic apologist, check 2:63-65; 5:59-60; and 7:166.
Abou El Fadl said it “amazes me” that although careful and balanced scholarship on Islam is being done at leading universities by scholars who have learned to read medieval Arabic texts, such research increasingly is ignored in favor of material published by “crazy ideologues, clowns and jokers” who often do not know how to read Arabic….
Ad hominem attacks are always easier than reasoned refutation for crazy ideologues, clowns and jokers like Abou El Fadl.

Mark Rosenthal says
Get them Robert
miriamrove says
Hi Mark! This is the first time I see your name and from your last name I am assuming you are Jewish, if so happy holidays. Im
Joseph says
@ Mark, if miriamrove is correct (I am 99/100% sure) then welcome, glad to have you here.
Angemon says
Not trying to take anything away from Mr. Spencer’s spot-on analysis, but the expression “taqiyya about taqiyya” reminded me of an article by Mr. Ibrahim:
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/taqiyya-about-taqiyya/
Robert Spencer says
Angemon
Raymond is a good guy, but let’s give credit where credit is due:
“Taqiyya about taqiyya,” by Robert Spencer, March 26, 2007 http://www.jihadwatch.org/2007/03/taqiyya-about-taqiyya
“Taqiyya about taqiyya in the Washington Post,” by Robert Spencer, February 2, 2011 http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/02/taqiyya-about-taqiyya-in-the-washington-post
“Taqiyya about Taqiyya,” by Raymond Ibrahim, April 11, 2014 http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/04/raymond-ibrahim-taqiyya-about-taqiyya
I don’t mind Raymond’s using the phrase, but he did not originate it. I did.
Angemon says
Robert Spencer posted:
“I don’t mind Raymond’s using the phrase, but he did not originate it. I did.”
I wasn’t trying to imply he did.
jihad3tracker says
* * * * * * * * WOW ! ! ! TWO MOMENTOUS EVENTS IN ONE DAY — A POPE SETS FOOT ON NORTH AMERICAN ASTROTURF AND BOBBY “THE KID” SPENCER BUNJEE JUMPS DOWN FOR ONE OF HIS WAY-TOO-RARE COMMENTS * * * * * * * * *
As I have told him privately in emails, the Washington Post has an incurable case of Western-privilege guilt. Its headquarters are a 10 minute subway ride from the ancestral ramparts of my yurt.
And, speaking of coining phrases — what a coincidence: A columnist in the Post today did that newly popular Carson excoriation mambo sweeping our nation, including the mandatory noun-du-jour, “prejudice”.
His email inbox likely has ample replies begging to object, so my rebuttal to him will be sent in a week, with a correction regarding the object of his high dudgeon: Carson has been overtaken by “POSTJUDICE” — apparently taking the unprecedented irrational step of actually reading the Qur’an.
And Robert, I am going to frankly acknowledge to that Post opinion slinger, due to his deep Hadith & Sira diving (additional to Suras), suffers from a severe case of PANJUDICE. Even the Mayo Clinic cannot find a remedy. . . and the SPLC refuses to accept his HMO card.
mortimer says
The “T” word is out of the bag, and it makes the soldiers of Allah and their USEFUL IDIOTS in the West go ape covering it up! Yes, we are talking openly about the concept of religiously mandated lying “to protect” Islam, to pull the Islamic wool over the eyes and ears of increasingly suspicious unbelievers:
WESTERN MEDIA ARE IN DENIAL ABOUT MUSLIMS IN DENIAL ABOUT BEING IN DENIAL ABOUT TAQIYYA!
THE SHI’ITE DOCTRINE OF TAQIYYA IS BASED ON:
-“And taqiyyah is compulsory. It is not permissible to eliminate it until the ‘Qa’im’(Imam) emerges. Whoever abandons it before his emergence has left the religion ofAllah and has opposed Allah, His Messengers and the Imams) (Risaalah I’tiqadiyyah471 Sarkodah)
-“Verily nine tenths of the deen is taqiyyah. There is no deen for the one who does not practice on taqiyyah) (Al Kafi 2/217, Dar al kutub al Islamiyyah, Tehran). (Abu Abdullah has said: “I heard my father saying: By Allah, there is nothing on the surface of this earth more beloved to Allah than taqiyya. O Habeeb, whoever practices taqiyyah, Allah will exalt him. O Habeeb, whoever discards taqiyyah, Allah will disgrace him.”” (ibid)
-Allah himself is “Best Deceiver”. Many times, the Koran openly states that Allah is the “best deceiver”.
-‘By Allah, and Allah willing, if I take an oath and later find something else better than that, then I do what is BETTER and expiate my oath.’ – SB 7.67.427
-‘Taqiyyah is permissible till the day of Qiyamah, and this statement is better because it is Wajib to protect our life from any harm.’
-‘When facd with two hardships, one should go through the smaller one to save one’s self from the bigger one. This is a recognized fact.’ – Tafsee Kabeer, V.5, pp746; Imam of Ahle Shunnah Allamah Fakhruddin Razi, Istanbul.
-‘I say that the meaning of Taqiyyah is to be cautious of revealing that which is in one’s mind regarding one’s beliefs and practices in front of others.’ – Fath al-Bari, V12, p314, Ibn Hajar Asaqlani.
-Koran 9.6 ‘Allah and his messenger dissolve (treaty) obligations with the Pagans.’
-‘The prophet said, ‘War is deceit.'” SB V.4.52.369
-Finally, there is Islam’s overarching idea of NIYYA (or “intention”), best captured by the famous Muslim axiom, “NECESSITY makes permissible the PROHIBITED.” According to this teaching, the intentions behind Muslim actions determine whether said actions are permissible or not.
jihad3tracker says
Hello again Mortimer —-
Your depth of knowledge and expertise is gratefully received by me and, I am sure, every other reader here.
Mazo says
All of the texts which mention Taqiyyah are Shia. The ones that don’t have the word Taqiyyah in them are Sunni.
This is why your points constantly get shot down in flames. You morons read Raymond Ibrahim’s article where he cited a DRUZE Dr. Sami claiming that Taqiyyah is a feature found in Islam in general when it is only used by Shia.
Next time, lets cite a gnostic or Cathar text on Christianity and claims it represents mainstream Christian teaching LOL.
Jay Boo says
Where is my Epi Pen?
I am getting an allergic reaction to all the defender of Islam BS.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
he Washington Post, as credulous and eager to be misled by Islamic supremacists as ever, offers up taqiyya about taqiyya from some of the nation’s leading taqiyya artists.
I’m getting dizzy. But the globo-socialist unwittingly anti-American WaPo ain’t getting dizzy. They feel good, rock solid, in piety about Moslem piety:
The word “taqiyya” derives from the Arabic words for “piety” and “fear of God” and indicates when a person is in a state of caution, said Khaled Abou El Fadl, a professor of law at the University of California at Los Angeles and a leading authority on Islam.
A leading bullshit artist on Islam is more like it. But he’s a professor, and teaches our young people, so the WaPo can pronounce him a leading authority and still have the gall to show their faces in public.
But we live in a world of hair splitting redefinition. We shoulda become suspicious when ex-Prez Clinton said it depends on what the definition of the word is is. We have a president now who is a known liar who told huge bald faced lies to help get reelected, and he still has an approval rating of nearly 50%. So people like lies, not a good environment for taking the mask of of Islam.
Zimriel says
The fear of God in Islam is taqwa; same root but different construction. Nobody with a passing knowledge of any Semitic language confuses taqwa with taqiyya except for lying Western journolisters, and gullible readers of Khaled Abou El Fadl.
somehistory says
This reminds me of a court case where the guilty guy was acting as his own attorney and as he *questioned each witness* who took the stand, he would phrase each in such a way as to try to make them say things so he would appear innocent. He was very smarmy.
He had gone into a room with his weapon and shot several as they tried to hide, or begged him not to kill them.
The victims that survived were very uncomfortable with having to face him and actually speak to him. One lady, who had been shot, and seemed incredibly nervous and upset on the stand when asked if she knew who shot her, said, “Yes. You shot me.”
It was clear from the expression on his face that he had not expected her to speak the truth so boldly.
Liars try to wiggle out of their lies by calling their accusers liars and further twisting the truth These moslems who are attempting to paint Dr. Carson as being ignorant, and speaking about something he doesn’t understand, are only showing that what he said is the truth about islam…it is all built on lies and it teaches its adherents to lie and lie a lot…to lie about lying.
islam is a beastly cult of death brought forth by satan. satan the devil…father of the lie.
Scott says
Robert,
Thank you for exposing the Islamist’s direct use of Taqyyia against us all using the mouth piece of the willfully ignorant WaPo.
They gave Dr. Carson 4 Pinocchios and frankly they should be give 5 Pinocchios except they’re probably too willingly in the tank for whatever is Multicultural and Politically correct to even understand that they were had.
The ultimate problem is that the power of the MSM unfortunately continues to rule the day. We who have been educated to the issues – much of which we owe to Robert – are the choir and we indeed agree with our Preacher. How we can possibly wake up our fellow citizens remains the tough part of the issue.
I would hope that WaPo would have the journalistic integrity to publish Robert’s rebuttal, but I somehow doubt they will.
William says
Isn’t practicing Taqiyya a pious fraud? That is, isn’t it lying in order to advance one’s religious belief?
Also, doesn’t one get stuck in a liar’s paradox when a Mohammedan is explaining what is Taqiyya? It is like Epimenides, a Cretan, saying All Cretans are Liars. How can one be interested in seeking the truth (in Mr. Kessler’s case) about Taqiyya by consulting Mohammedans and their defenders, who may be trying to defend or advance their belief?
And I like Mr. Spencer’s take about Taqiyya about taqiyya.
mortimer says
Wellington correctly draws attention to Islam’s HALL-OF-MIRRORS paradox: “taqiyya about taqiyya”.
-Imam Abu Hammid Ghazali says: “Speaking is a means to achieve objectives. If a praiseworthy aim is attainable through both telling the truth and lying, it is unlawful to accomplish through lying because there is no need for it. When it is possible to ACHIEVE such an AIM by LYING but not by telling the truth, it is PERMISSIBLE to lie if attaining the goal is PERMISSIBLE (N: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… it is religiously precautionary in all cases to employ words that give a misleading impression…”
from Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law
Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, Edited and Translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller (p. 745, r8.2)
-“I say our scholars agree on the fact that when needed, telling a lie is allowed, and this is Taqiyyah. But if we name this Taqiyyah, a lot of the scholars raise an objection, since Shi’as use this term. So the difference between Shi’a and Sunni is ONLY the word difference.”
from Muhammad bin Aqeel Shaafiyee, al-Nasa’ih al-Kaafiyah (p. 109), Bombay edition
KrazyKafir says
This is one of my favorites where the Imam explains how when they lie to you in order to advance Islam, well, it’s for your own good.
mortimer says
TAQIYYA ABOUT TAQIYYA is the way Muslims seek to show they do not practice taqiyya!
The near absence of Koranic verses or hadiths that encourage truthfulness surprises Muslims, since many Muslims are CONVINCED that their Islam teaches honesty. In fact, it is because of this unsupported supposition that many Muslims are honest.
The 9/11 hijackers practiced deception by going into bars and drinking alcohol, thus throwing off potential suspicion that they were fundamentalists plotting jihad. This effort worked so well, in fact, that even weeks after 9/11, John Walsh, the host of a popular American television show, said that their bar trips were evidence of ‘hypocrisy.’ They were not ‘hypocrisy’…the 9/11 terrorists were practicing taqiyya.
The transmission from Flight 93 records the hijackers telling their doomed passengers that there is “a bomb on board” but that everyone will “be safe” as long as “their demands are met.” Obviously none of these things were true, but these men, who were so intensely devoted to Islam that they were willing to “slay and be slain for the cause of Allah” (as the Qur’an puts it) saw nothing wrong with employing Taqiyya in order to facilitate their mission of mass murder.
A pious Muslim living in the West went to Pakistan on business. When he returned, he was appalled how dishonest pious Pakistanis were! He commented about their TAQIYYA…”The bigger the beard, the bigger the liar!”
pennant8 says
It’s amazing how much time Muslims have to devote to convincing us infidels that Islamic scripture really doesn’t say what it says.
occupant 9 says
…or that Muslims acting in the manner of Mo aren’t really doing that at all. Upshot is that we must never believe our own lyin’ eyes.
Jeremiah says
Ben Carson has thrown down the gauntlet. Now people are being educated. We now need so show how serious a threat this is to America with action. Every state needs to run referendums on the next election ballots to ban sharia. That will bring this matter into the living rooms of all voters.
Westman says
Since it is estimated that 90+% of Muslims are Sunni, there should also be a discussion of their version of lying, MUDA’RAT, or at least the use of the term.
Truth Seeker says
This shows there are Infiltrated Strong Islamic Trojan Horses are present in the Set Up of Washington Post. Ill Fate of US.
Western Canadian says
Really sad that we know so little about our history…. It makes it so easy to lie to us, to claim that we are less than we have been, are worse than we were……
And the obvious corollary, that islam (RTC) is better than it was (let’s face it, it couldn’t have been worse…).
For example…. the spanish inquisition didn’t apply to Jews…. or muslims.
So his claims of conversion to avoid the inquisition…. don’t really add up.
Januk36 says
How do muslims tell deception from “truth” apart ?
Any written statement within the islamic culture, starting with the koran, might be a veil over the truth.
How does a follower of Mohammed ever be sure to know the “truth” ?
Islam is the nasty religion of peace says
I think all this, he said – they said – she said, pandering is just plain old “smoke & mirrors”,,
Deviating from the reality of “Allu Akbar” “Kill the Satanists” “Death to America” ….. at the end of the day I believe them, and it dosen’t matter what pussy footing around is done in the media & by CAIR at the end of the day they just want to take over & kill us …
Chuck says
The following is a comment I left on this topic at another site a few years ago…
A little about the issue of lying in Islam:
The paragraph below is part of Sharia law, a portion of Section r8.2, from “The Reliance of the Traveller – The Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law ‘Umdat al-Salik” by Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri:
“This [a hadith quoted] is an explicit statement that lying is sometimes permissible for a given interest, scholars having established criteria defining what types of it are lawful. The best analysis of it I have seen is by Imam Abu Hamid Ghazali, who says: ‘Speaking is a means to achieve objectives. If a praiseworthy aim is attainable through both telling the truth and lying, it is unlawful to accomplish through lying because there is no need for it. When it is possible to achieve such an aim by lying but not by telling the truth, it is permissible to lie if attaining the goal is permissible (N: 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…. Whether the purpose is war, settling a disagreement, or gaining the sympathy of a victim legally entitled to retaliate against one so that he will forbear to do so; it is not unlawful to lie when any of these aims can only be attained through lying. But it is religiously more precautionary (def: c6.5) in all such cases to employ words that give a misleading impression, meaning to intend by one’s words something that is literally true, in respect to which one is not lying (def: r1O.2), while the outward purport of the words deceives the hearer….'” [Read it in context at http://tinyurl.com/cm53ga6.%5D
You can be sure that spreading Islam is “a praiseworthy aim.” You can also be sure that, when avoiding an outright lie, Islamic leaders do not hesitate “to employ words that give a misleading impression.” An example would be defining terror (to oneself) only as action taken against Islam, and then truthfully claiming to be against it, while in fact supporting violent acts against unbelievers.