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Specifically, taqiyya permits Muslims to conceal their faith and/or beliefs if confronted with genuine danger to their persons or communities, and if they are doing so for the purpose of preserving life and property.
By MOUIN RABBANI
Taqiyya. Prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, and the tsunami of Islamophobia it unleashed, I’d never heard of taqiyya. Nor had any of the Muslims or those identified as Muslims I had encountered before that time. More precisely, the topic never came up. Not once.
As explained by Islamophobes, and Israel flunkies in particular, taqiyya means not only “liar” but much, much more. In their telling, taqiyya not only permits but positively requires Muslims to lie and conceal, about anything and everything, in order to achieve their collective objective of global domination, transforming the entire planet into an Islamic caliphate. Through subterfuge, of course. It is a divine license, directly provided by Allah, to fabricate and dissemble at will. It is the primary religious obligation of every Muslim, whether religious or not, far exceeding the Shahada and the other pillars of the Muslim faith.
It also means that anything a Muslim, or one identified as such, says or writes or does can be dismissed with a single word: taqiyya. A Muslim (or for that matter a Christian Arab or Sikh wearing a turban) states s/he doesn’t want to kill all the Jews? Taqiyya. A Muslim swears allegiance to the US constitution? Taqiyya. A Muslim claims not be an active-duty Jihadi? Taqiyya. And so on. The pinnacle of taqiyya consists of assertions about Israel: occupation, apartheid, genocide? It’s all taqiyya. The very existence of the Palestinian people is, needless to say, the ultimate expression of taqiyya.
So what exactly is this diabolical phenomenon, and what are its origins?
Islam, like every other religion, formally enjoins its followers to practice honesty and integrity, and to lead a moral life. If it didn’t, there would be no need to specify the conditions in which it would be permissible to deviate from these standards, and taqiyya would never have entered the English language or become the explanation of choice for the Hasbara Symphony Orchestra.
Taqiyya is often translated as “precautionary dissimulation”. While imprecise, it accurately conveys its meaning in relation to practice. Taqiyya as such is not explicitly mentioned in the Quran, although the Muslim scholars who would later give it form did so with reference both to a Quranic verse which they concluded provided justification for the practice, and also the actual experiences of the early Muslims, when they lived as a persecuted group in seventh-century Mecca.
Specifically, taqiyya permits Muslims to conceal their faith and/or beliefs if confronted with genuine danger to their persons or communities, and if they are doing so for the purpose of preserving life and property. The religious justification for doing so is that God remains aware of their true convictions and intentions, and will therefore, under these specific circumstances, forgive the believer for outwardly concealing their faith.
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Taqiyya may only be practiced as a defensive, protective measure when confronted with genuine danger, and only in relation to concealing one’s identity as a Muslim believer. This may include anything from professing not to be a practicing Muslim, to renouncing one’s faith under duress, to professing membership in a different faith when confronted by a lynch mob. The emphasis is on the preservation of the community, though individuals may practice it as well.
This is the general understanding of taqiyya. Some Muslim scholars hold the view that it is never permitted to conceal one’s faith, others assert that taqiyya is permissible only when endangered by non-Muslim authorities, while many draw the line at openly professing adherence to a different religion – even if they also condone engaging in conduct prohibited by Islam, such as the consumption of pork or wine, to escape imminent danger. As in other faiths, scholars and jurists have predictably parsed the phenomenon to the nth degree, for example debating whether, under particular circumstances, taqiyya is permissible or obligatory, and what does and does not constitute a legitimate intention for doing so.
Like members of every other faith, Muslims also tell lies big and small, for both individual, group, and community advantage. Yet, unless such statements are made pursuant to the above specific criteria, any other act of dissimulation, dishonesty, or call it what you will, does not qualify as taqiyya. A pious Muslim who cheats on their taxes, or calls in sick to spend a day at the beach, for example, is not engaging in taqiyya and cannot justify their actions with reference to it. When Ayaan Hirsi Ali concocted her origin story out of thin air to claim political asylum in The Netherlands, she also was not engaging in taqiyya, but committing immigration fraud, just like anyone else in her position would be characterized.
Although taqiyya is often associated with Shi’a Islam, it is not a specifically Shi’a phenomenon. Rather, as a minority sect within Islam that has repeatedly experienced persecution, Shi’a Muslims have over the centuries had more reason to avail themselves of it. Its origins, as mentioned above, are to be found in the early days of Islam and predate the Sunni-Shia schism.
Indeed, what is perhaps the best-known example of taqiyya dates from fifteenth century Spain and has nothing to do with Shi’ism. Following the completion of the Reconquista in 1492, Spain’s rulers ordered their new, overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim subjects, to convert to Christianity or leave. Many chose to outwardly adopt the Catholic faith to escape expulsion and the tender mercies of the Spanish Inquisition, while continuing to practice Islam in secret. Known as crypto-Muslims, or Moriscos, they were also to be found in Portugal, the Iberian colonies in the Americas and Asia, and separately in Russia at various times.
The Iberian experience also demonstrates that taqiyya is not unique to Islam. The same period saw the emergence of crypto-Jews, also known as Marranos, for precisely the same reasons. Crypto-Jews were also to be found in Sicily, the Americas, Portuguese India, and elsewhere. As with taqiyya, self-preservation and avoiding persecution were considered legitimate justifications for concealment of one’s Jewish faith and profession of another. The practice was endorsed, for example, by the Sephardic Rabbi and towering Torah scholar Maimonides. Although Maimonides provided his reasoning in response to the campaign of forced conversions by the twelfth-century Muslim Almohads in Andalusia and North Africa, his explanations persisted and were adopted by crypto-Jews during the Spanish Inquisition.
While not unknown the practice has been relative rare among Christians, particularly when compared to Muslims and Jews. The early Christians were of course compelled to practice their faith in secret, and more recently were obliged to do so in officially atheist states like the Soviet Union. But, as a rule, Christian theology seems to draw the line at professing adherence to a different religion, even in situations of self-preservation. This in turn may reflect the prominent role played by martyrdom in early Christianity, beginning of course with Jesus Christ but also many others during Christianity’s formative period. Other faiths and religions presumably have also developed positions on how to confront genuine danger resulting from one’s identity.
In the hands of Islamophobes and Israel flunkies, “taqiyya” has served as a useful term to dismiss not only criticism, but the growing avalanche of inconvenient facts. Yet rather than exposing the dissimulation of others, they are using a thoroughly distorted definition of an obscure religious concept to engage in massive concealment themselves. It reflects their growing desperation at the impossible task of keeping a live-streamed genocide out of public view.
Mouin Rabbani is senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies. Additionally, he serves as a contributing editor to Middle East Report and is a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs. His writings may be found on Substack and Twitter: @MouinRabbani.
