On Aug 11 of this year I made as post titled "Taqiyya" which included a slick youtube vid piece of anti-Muslim propaganda which raised the specter in part that Muslims could not be trusted to be honest in their dealings with un-believers because of a tenet in their faith called "taqiyya" which was portrayed as prophet sanctioned "right to lie and deceive the infidel".
A Muslim named Amad from Muslimmatters.org responded to the post with some comment insights and clarifications as well as a link to an article at Loonwatch.com which debunks that notion and puts a completely different contextual perspective regarding "taqiyya" on the semantic table.
It was enlightening to say the least to discover how my own ignorance of Muslim culture had led me to unwarranted fears about the meaning of taqiyya...me who prides himself on being completely unbigoted toward any group. I urge my readers to elevate their perspective on this matter by reading the original post and comments and then the article at loonwatch.
The excerpt below is from that article:
Robert Spencer has implied in his book and website that Muslims are instructed to be honest only to fellow Muslims, and that they can lie to unbelievers. Says Spencer:
Muhammad minced no words about the necessity of telling the truth...However, as with so many other Islamic principles, this is largely a matter between believers. When it comes to unbelievers-particularly those who are at war with Muslims-Muhammad enunciated a quite different principle: "War is deceit." Specifically, he taught that lying was permissible in battle.
As I have said in my previous article criticizing Robert Spencer's methodology, he mixes half-truths (70% of his writings) with outright lies (the remaining 30%). Here is where Spencer slips in a bold-faced lie. (The irony of using deception while writing an article on deception should not be lost.) In the text above, Spencer implies that Muslims don't have to be honest with non-Muslims. However, the reality is that the Prophet Muhammad never said that a Muslim can lie to a non-Muslim. What he did say was:
Lying is not permitted except in three cases: (1) a man's speaking to his wife to make her happy; (2) lying at times of war; (3) and lying in order to reconcile between people.
Do you see the word "unbeliever", "non-Muslim", or "infidel" anywhere there? No, no, and no. Lying is permitted during war, and this has nothing to do with being a Muslim or non-Muslim. Being a non-Muslim in this case is merely incidental. Spencer's insinuation to the contrary is dishonest and...deceitful. Had the Prophet Muhammad wanted to say that lying to unbelievers is permitted, then he would simply have said as much: "Lying is not permitted except in three cases...(2) lying to unbelievers." But he didn't. And I challenge Spencer to bring forth a single quote from the Quran or the Prophetic traditions saying anything of the sort.
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