Taqiyya
In
Shi'a Islamic as well as
Druze tradition,
Taqiyya (التقية - 'fear, guard against')
[The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Ed. John Bowker. Oxford University Press, 2000. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Accessed 9 June, 2006.] is the dispensation allowing believers to conceal their faith when under threat,
persecution or compulsion. It is based on Qur'an 3:28 and 16:106 as well as hadith, tafsir literature, and juridical commentaries.
["Taqiyah" Oxford Dictionary of Islam. John L. Esposito, Ed. Oxford University Press. 2003. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Accessed 9 June, 2006.]Some Sunnis assert that Taqiyya is an act of hypocrisy that serves to conceal the truth. According to them, Taqiyya constitutes a lack of faith and trust in God because the person who conceals his beliefs to spare himself from danger is fearful of humans, when he should be fearful of God only.
Rules
Taqiyya, like any other Islamic tenet, has guidelines and limits. According to many
Shia, Taqiyya can only be legally used by a
Muslim verbally when he or she is being wrongly persecuted. The situation may be when no matter whichever course of action an individual chooses he has to commit an
evil. In that case, he should select the lesser evil.
When one is guilty and is trying to conceal his or her guilt, in Islam, he is not said to be using taqiyya, he or she is considered a debauchee.
Shi'as justify the practice using the following verse from the Qur'an:
"Any one who, after accepting faith in Allah, utters Unbelief,
except under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in Faith, but such as open their breast to Unbelief, on them is Wrath from Allah, and theirs will be a dreadful Penalty." Sura 16:106
And the following
"[Shakir 3:28] Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends (
awliyaa) rather than believers; and whoever does this, he shall have nothing of (the guardianship of) Allah, but you should guard (
tattaqoo) yourselves against them, guarding carefully (
tuqatan); and Allah makes you cautious of (retribution from) Himself; and to Allah is the eventual coming."
According to Shi'a interpretation of these verses, 3:28 is telling that believers should not take unbelievers as
Walis rather the believers, those who do it will lose the
wilayat (5:55) of God, that is unless they are using
taqiya/protecting themselves, and doing so with caution. And God knows what is in your heart, so fear his wrath, for nobody escapes God.
Also:
(40:28 by Shakir): ''And
a believing man of Firon's people
who hid his faith said...
The first use of Taqiyya historically during the time of Muhammad when, according to Muslim tradition, the Quraishites began torturing
Muslims.
Ammar ibn Yasir, a follower of
Muhammad, whose friends are said to have been killed for being Muslim by the
Quraish, was confronted by a Quraishite. 'Ammar pretended to renounce
Islam and thus saved his life. According to a canonical
hadith, the prophet
Muhammad later gave his permission for him to repeat such an act if he was placed in danger again.
Most Sunnis criticize Ammar for his actions or question the reliability of the story. Sunnis cite the examples of many Muslims who were tortured and murdered merely based on their belief during the time of
Muhammad,
Umayyad and
Abbasids but didn't renounce their faith. For example, Ammar's parents had both been tortured and killed in front of Ammar but didn't renounce the faith. Most Sunnis believe that God decides when someone is going to die. Therefore, for them it's wrong to deny the faith in order to escape torture or death. By contrast, the Shi'a and some Sunnis believe that life is a gift from God and should be preserved. In a life-threatening emergency, the preservation of life takes precedence over anything else, in the same way that it is permissible to eat pig meat during famine.
Sa'id ibn Zayd and
Fatimah bint al-Khattab were married and both hid their faith from
Umar ibn al-Khattab, until Umar found out they were Muslims. Umar also became a Muslim that same day.
Muslims have a mixed view of the practice.
Sunni view
Although Taqiyya is generally thought of as a Shi'a term, according to principles defined by the great
Sunni theologian
al-Ghazali, lying, including protection of oneself or others, is permissible under certain circumstances:
"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 it 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..., and obligatory to lie if the goal is obligatory. ...One should compare the bad consequences entailed by lying to those entailed by telling the truth, and if the consequences of telling the truth are more damaging, one is entitled to lie…"
[Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, 1997, section r8.2, page 745.]On the other hand, most Sunnis generally assert that the Shi'a doctrine of Taqiyya isn't in accordance with its acceptable use (to save one's life). They assert that Shias have been using taqiyya as a tool of deception, not to save their own lives, but to cause strife for the Sunni Calipha (which was resented by Shias) and to legitimize their own minority faith in the eyes of a majority whom it is constantly surrounded by.
[http://www.amislam.com/khutoot2.htm#TAQIYYAH] They point to the prominent Shia work, Al Kafi (v9 p116) as evidence to what they call the Shia misuses of taqiyya, it reads "Mix with them [non-shia] externally but oppose them internally." They say that although taqiyyah to save ones life can be considered as legitimate at times, the way Shias have applied taqiyyah by misrepresenting historical occurrences and sayings is forbidden.
[http://www.raza.co.za/Deviant%20Sects%20&%20Scholars/Deviant_Shia%20Beliefs.htm] Allegations such as these are found in many Sunni writings, classical and contemporary. For example, in
Minhaj as-Sunnah, Shaykh
Ibn Tayymiah of the
Hanbali school of Sunni jurispudence said to narrate knowledge from everyone but the Shia
"because they invent ahaadeeth and adopt them as part of their religion."Shi'a view
Taqiyya does not constitute a part of either the Shi'a
Roots or
Branches of Religion, in the same manner as, for example, the
Hijab rules do not.
The practice was a method of self-preservation for the
Shi'as who historically were the minority and persecuted by Sunni Muslims. As a result of this persecution, the practice of Taqiyya normalized. In other words, if a Shi'a Muslim's life is in danger, he may lie as long as he holds his faith true in his heart.
The
Druze, a
Levantine religion often mistaken as a sect of Islam, allow disguising their Druzeness and the simulation of being Muslim or Christian to avoid frequent persecutions by the local majorities.
*
Marrano*Bar-Asher, Me'ir Mikha'el (1999).
Scripture and Exegesis in Early Imami Shiism. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 9004114955
*Cook, Michael (2003).
Early Muslim Dogma: A Source-Critical Study. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521545722
*Daftary, Farhad (1992).
The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521429749
*Emadi, Hafizullah (1998). The end of taqiyya: reaffirming the religious identity of Ismailis in Shughnan, Badakhshan - political implications for Afghanistan.
Middle Eastern Studies. 34(3), 103-120.
*Emadi, Hafizullah (2000). Praxis of
taqiyya: perseverance of Pashaye Ismaili enclave, Nangarhar, Afghanistan.
Central Asian Survey. 19(2), 253-264.
*Firro, Kais (1999).
The Druzes in the Jewish State: A Brief History. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 9004112510
*Gleaves, Robert (2000).
Inevitable Doubt. Two Theories of Shi'i Jurisprudence. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 9004115951
*Misri, Ahmad ibn Naqib al- (1997).
The Reliance of the Traveller, translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller, Amana Publications.
*
Al-Taqiyya/Dissimulation, from Al-Islam.Org (Shi'a site)
*
Innovations in Taqiyyah by Mufti of Sipaa Sahaba (Shi'a site).
*http://www.answering-ansar.org/answers/creed_of_shia_explained/en/chap7.php (Shi'a site)
*
A critical perspective on dissimulation in Islam (Christian site)
