{"id":1864,"date":"2010-01-31T23:50:48","date_gmt":"2010-01-31T23:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com.108-166-28-151.mdgnetworks.com\/wordpress\/?p=1864"},"modified":"2013-03-12T23:52:31","modified_gmt":"2013-03-12T23:52:31","slug":"how-taqiyya-alters-islams-rules-of-war-defeating-jihadist-terrorism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/how-taqiyya-alters-islams-rules-of-war-defeating-jihadist-terrorism\/","title":{"rendered":"How Taqiyya Alters Islam’s Rules of War: Defeating Jihadist Terrorism"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim<\/p>\n

Middle East Quarterly\u00a0<\/em>(Winter 2010)<\/p>\n

Islam must seem a paradoxical religion to non-Muslims. On the one hand, it is constantly being portrayed as the religion of peace; on the other, its adherents are responsible for the majority of terror attacks around the world. Apologists for Islam emphasize that it is a faith built upon high ethical standards; others stress that it is a religion of the law. Islam’s dual notions of truth and falsehood further reveal its paradoxical nature: While the Qur’an is against believers deceiving other believers \u2014 for “surely God guides not him who is prodigal and a liar”[1] \u2014 deception directed at non-Muslims, generally known in Arabic as\u00a0taqiyya<\/em>, also has Qur’anic support and falls within the legal category of things that are permissible for Muslims.<\/p>\n

Taqiyya<\/em>\u00a0offers two basic uses. The better known revolves around dissembling over one’s religious identity when in fear of persecution. Such has been the historical usage of\u00a0taqiyya<\/em>\u00a0among Shi’i communities whenever and wherever their Sunni rivals have outnumbered and thus threatened them. Conversely, Sunni Muslims, far from suffering persecution have, whenever capability allowed, waged jihad against the realm of unbelief; and it is here that they have deployed\u00a0taqiyya\u00a0<\/em>\u2014 not as dissimulation but as active deceit. In fact, deceit, which is doctrinally grounded in Islam, is often depicted as being equal \u2014 sometimes superior \u2014 to other universal military virtues, such as courage, fortitude, or self-sacrifice.<\/p>\n

Yet if Muslims are exhorted to be truthful, how can deceit not only be prevalent but have divine sanction? What exactly is\u00a0taqiyya<\/em>? How is it justified by scholars and those who make use of it? How does it fit into a broader conception of Islam’s code of ethics, especially in relation to the non-Muslim? More to the point, what ramifications does the doctrine of\u00a0taqiyya<\/em>\u00a0have for all interaction between Muslims and non-Muslims?<\/p>\n

For more go to\u00a0http:\/\/www.meforum.org\/2538\/taqiyya-islam-rules-of-war<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Raymond Ibrahim<\/a>\u00a0is the associate director of the Middle East Forum and the author of The Al Qaeda Reader, translations of religious texts and propaganda.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim Middle East Quarterly\u00a0(Winter 2010) Islam must seem a paradoxical religion to non-Muslims. On the one hand, it is constantly being portrayed as the religion of peace; on the other, its adherents are responsible for the majority of terror attacks around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[227,610],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-u4","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3376,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/excusing-taqiyya\/","url_meta":{"origin":1864,"position":0},"title":"Excusing Taqiyya?","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Jihad Watch Instead of trying to be \u201cbold\u201d and tackling a \u201ccontroversial\u201d topic, innate apologists would do better to simply remain silent. In \u201cSecret Muslims: Are Muslims allowed to hide their faith?\u201d in\u00a0Slate, July 3, Juliet Lapidos wonders \"whether there's a history of Muslims who deny their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1454,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/islams-predictability-apostasy-execution-and-lies\/","url_meta":{"origin":1864,"position":1},"title":"Islam’s Predictability: Apostasy, Execution, and Lies","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Jihad Watch As one ponders the fate of Yousef Nadarkhani, the Iranian pastor on death row for refusing to renounce Christianity, it is well to reflect that, for all the talk that Islam is perpetually \"misunderstood,\" it is actually immensely predictable and consistent; not only do its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Iran"","block_context":{"text":"Iran","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/iran\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2935,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/war-and-peace-and-deceit-in-islam\/","url_meta":{"origin":1864,"position":2},"title":"War and Peace–and Deceit–in Islam","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim PJ Media Editor's note: Substantial portions of the following essay made up part of Mr. Ibrahim's written testimony that was presented to Congress on February 12, 2009 Today, in a time of wars and rumors of wars emanating from the Islamic world \u2014 from the current conflict\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7218,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/taqiyya-about-taqiyya\/","url_meta":{"origin":1864,"position":3},"title":"Taqiyya about Taqiyya","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0RaymondIbrahim.com\u00a0 I was recently involved in an interesting exercise\u2014examining taqiyya\u00a0about\u00a0taqiyya\u2014and believe readers might profit from the same exercise, as it exposes all the subtle apologetics made in defense of the Islamic doctrine, which permits Muslims to lie to non-Muslims, or \u201cinfidels.\u201d Context: Khurrum Awan, a lawyer, is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Islam"","block_context":{"text":"Islam","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/islam\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/taqiyya1-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2917,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/taqiyya-revisited-a-response-to-the-critics\/","url_meta":{"origin":1864,"position":4},"title":"Taqiyya Revisited: A Response to the Critics","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Jihad Watch Having written at length on various aspects of Islam, it is always my writings concerning doctrinal deceit that elicit (sometimes irate) responses. As such, the purpose of this article is to revisit the issue of deceit and\u00a0taqiyya\u00a0in Islam, and address the many ostensibly plausible rebuttals\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7065,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/why-are-christians-the-worlds-most-persecuted-group\/","url_meta":{"origin":1864,"position":5},"title":"Why Are Christians the World’s Most Persecuted Group?","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0RaymondIbrahim.com\u00a0 Why are Christians, as a new Pew report documents, the\u00a0most persecuted religious group in the world?\u00a0 And why is their persecution\u00a0occurring primarily throughout the Islamic world?\u00a0 (In the category on \u201cCountries with Very High Government Restrictions on Religion,\u201d Pew lists 24 countries\u201420 of which are Islamic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Islam"","block_context":{"text":"Islam","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/islam\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Three_crosses-300x255.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1865,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864\/revisions\/1865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}