Bigotry: The Dark Danger

Another Misunderstood Concept: Taqiyya (Dissimulation)

Taqiyya means “concealing, precaution, guarding.” The concept appears as follows in the Qur’an:

Those who reject God after having had faith – except for someone forced to do it whose heart remains at rest in its faith – but as for those whose breasts become dilated with disbelief, anger from God will come down on them...(Qur'an, 16:106)

This verse is describing a very special state of affairs; it is permissible for someone to say that he denies God or conceal his faith on a temporary basis even though he actually believes in order to escape oppression. Dissimulation has no other meaning in the Qur’an.

Yet some people with a badly distorted understanding of Islam apply dissimulation in a very different way, and it is also understood very differently by some opponents of Islam. Some people with a superstitious understanding of Islam seek to use dissimulation as a tactic meant to govern their entire lives, and are easily able to resort to non-Islamic practices even when their lives are not in danger and pretend, thanks to the relevant false hadiths involved, to treat people they actually regard as enemies as friends instead.

Some opponents of Islam or people who are suspicious of Islam because of radicalism generally stress this and claim that one should never believe what a Muslim says about peace and love and that Muslims are in fact preparing for a major conflict. They maintain that the Muslims in question apply the dissimulation described in the Qur’an in that way, and that Muslims who are really impatiently preparing for war merely pretend to be envoys of peace and love. Therefore, in these people’s eyes, every Muslim who speaks of peace and love is lying.

The main problem with both sides is that they are in fact ignorant of the Qur’an.

There is one very important condition attached to the dissimulation that appears in the Qur’an: “...except for someone forced to do it whose heart remains at rest in its faith”... The condition attached to dissimulation in the verse concerns a person being in danger, under difficult circumstances, and concealing his faith to escape persecution; not to conceal rancor and enmity. Almighty God reveals in the Qur’an how there was a member of Pharaoh’s family who had faith, but who concealed it:

A man among Pharaoh’s people who had faith, but kept his faith concealed, said, “Are you going to kill a man for saying ‘My Lord is God...’” ” (Qur'an, 40:28)

This person who concealed his faith was in clear and present danger. He lived alongside Pharaoh, the cruelest despot of his time, and concealed his faith, or dissimulated, because he was under the threat of death. This is compatible with the condition attached to dissimulation in the Qur’an. That person concealed his faith, even though he was a believer, because he was under severe threat. That is the only way, in the view of the Qur’an, in which dissimulation is acceptable.

Practices under the name of dissimulation of the part of some peddlers of nonsense, and some opponents of Islam who imagine that these practices are compatible with Islam, attempt to block the way to peace and love because they are far removed from the Qur’an. Dissimulation being perceived and applied differently from its true definition made in the Qur’an supports the current climate of war and conflicts that brings violence to the world. By doing this, the impression is given that peace will never come, and that mass slaughter and savagery will continue.

This way of thinking is as much a violation of logic as of the Qur’an. Imagine a Muslim who dedicates his whole life to peace and brotherhood and making friends with people, for God’s sake, who is threatened because of that by the advocates of war and the radicals, endangers his life, convinces Jews and Christians to be his friends despite the damaging effects of Islamophobia, and gives up his money, means and youth for the sake of that friendship. And then imagine he suddenly decides to slaughter the people he brought together in the face of so many difficulties and with whom he established bonds of love! That is a totally perverse perspective. If someone has such devilish ideas and is intent on slaughtering people, then he could easily find an opportunity to do it. He can act on that devilish idea anywhere and anytime. If he intends to do that in the name of religion, then the kind of people who misuse religion to murder others are not far away.

A Muslim cannot live his life with a lie. That is unlawful according to Islam. A true Muslim always lives in accordance with the Qur'an. In the light of the verses of the Qur'an, Muslims have a duty to bring love to the world (Qur’an, 19:96), to establish peace in the world (Qur’an, 2:208), and to bring about unity and union (Qur’an, 8:73). They are commanded to protect even the unbelievers, if necessary at the cost of their own lives (Qur’an, 9:6). They have a responsibility to be friends and brothers of the People of the Book, who occupy a special place in the Qur'an. They have a responsibility to embrace them, because they love them and because that is what God commands and because they say, “God is One.” They are not commanded to slaughter them and force them to convert to their own faith. Those who falsely misuse the concept of dissimulation to portray Islam as a religion of war will fail in their insidious plan, because evil plots are created as doomed to fail. Despite all the scenarios of war, representatives of the three faiths will bring peace on the world. God always bestows victory on the truth, and desires peace and love. He has created mankind and the whole universe on the basis of love.

We have seen the true meaning of the verses that the fanatics and opponents of Islam seek to use as evidence for enmity toward Jews. Now let us look at the fabricated hadiths used to impose antipathy toward Jews, hadiths which they believe in unconditionally:

Fabricated Hadiths about Christians and Jews and Clarifications Based on the Qur’an

The Idea of Killing Jews Who Enter Adolescence

Narrated Atiyyah al-Qurazi: I was among the captives of Banu Qurayzah. They (the Companions) examined us, and those who had begun to grow hair (pubes) were killed, and those who had not were not killed. I was among those who had not grown hair. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 38, Hadith 4390)

With this fabricated hadith, all Jews who have reached puberty are commanded to be killed. Islam is a religion that regards unjust killing as the greatest crime, that promises sincere Jews a great reward and that advises love and affection. Killing a person “who has committed no crimes whatsoever” when he has reached adolescence, only because he is Jewish, can by no means be a provision of Islam, let alone the fact that this religion of peace commands forgiving even in the existence of any crimes. Of course there is no such commandment in the Qur’an; such an idea is a calumny against the Qur’an and the fine faith of our Lord. That would be murder in the view of the Qur’an. As long as he does not sincerely believe it out of ignorance, a person who considers such a false hadith as a provision and applies it is not a Muslim, but a murderer. The fact that the fanatics believe in this command regarding the unconditional killing of Jews, when God praises sincere Jews, shows the scale of their ignorance.