Lying for Islam

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"By means of shrewd lies, unremittingly repeated, it is possible to make people believe that heaven is hell - and hell heaven. The greater the lie, the more readily it will be believed." Adolph Hitler
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State." Joseph Goebbels
"The essence of lying is in deception, not in words. A lie may be told by silence, by equivocation, by the accent on a syllable, by a glance of the eye attaching a peculiar significance to a sentence. All these kinds of lies are worse and baser by many degrees than a lie plainly worded. No form of blinded conscience is so far sunk as that which comforts itself for having deceived because the deception was by gesture or silence, instead of utterance." John Ruskin

Contents

Taqqiya

Their are two forms of lying in Islam. The first being "Taqiyya" which is the principle that if lying serves an Islamic cause, then dissimulation may be employed. It is a legitimate part of Islam, to lie and deceive unbelievers by any means. Thus exercising taqqiyah is very pious behavior for the Muslim. - "Taqqiya is attached, if it is helpful to the well-being of the religion -Islam" (Khomeini). Followers of Sunni Islam will deceptively claim that this only applies to Shiites.

Kitman

Kitman is close to Taqqiya but rather than outright dissimulation, it consists in telling only part of the truth, with “mental reservation” justifying the omission of the rest (adjustment, deception etc, anything short of a full-blown lie). For example when a Muslim maintains that “jihad” really means “a spiritual struggle” and fails to add that this particular definition is a recent invention in Islam [1](little more than a century old), he misleads by holding back the true violent nature of jihad, and is therefore practicing “kitman.” Another example would be the insistence of a Muslim apologist that “of course” there is the freedom of conscience in Islam, followed by quoting the Qur’anic verse “There shall be no compulsion in religion.” The impression given is false, for there has been no mention of the Islamic doctrine of abrogation, or naskh.

Conditions to lie set by Muhammad

Islam is the only world-religion that implies in its scriptures that it is ever permissible (or even encouraged) to lie. In his Sira, Muhammad authorized lying to improve the chances of successful assassinations, for example in the case of Shaaban Ibn Khalid al-Hazly and Bin Kaab.

  • Muhammad said: "Lying is wrong, except in three things: the lie of a man to his wife to make her content with him; a lie to an enemy, for war is deception; or a lie to settle trouble between people" [Ahmad, 6.459. H]

Quran verses

  • Q2:225: A Muslim does not have to maintain his oath (faith) as long as what's in his heart is true:
  • Treaties: A Muslim can break a treaty with a non-believer or even a "not so good" Muslim. Now, how can you authorize breaking a treaty without also authorizing lying?
  • Q3:28: Muslims are told that non-believers are not friends. Logically it follows, that If you explicitly designate a group in your immediate social circle, as a non-friend, then you implicitly designate them as enemies, since enmity is the only relation that can be allowed to develop. As we see Muhammad allows lying to enemies, so now you have permission to lie to your non-believer non-friends (the West, the non-believing minorities, the "not-so-good" Muslims, etc..).
  • Q16:106 If a Muslim is compelled to disbelief, do it. And Muhammad even took the pain to explain what he considered "compelling": (please see "Compelled to Lie" for more details). This verse does not mention when being "under fear of death" or "if a knife is put to your neck". This verse opens the door to lying, since you can deny faith, you can deny less important things.
  • Q77:38 & Q9:5: Allows the Muslim to use any stratagem. A common Muslim defense is that this applies 'only in war' However as has been demonstrated, Muslims are always at war. Considering that non-believers can not be friends with Muslims. Therefore any relations can only be governed by enmity or truce. Also, Considering the Muslims are allowed to break a truce whenever they choose without prior warning (very dishonourable conduct) as per Treaties, I would have to argue that Muslims are constantly at war.

Compelled to lie vs allowed to lie:

Q16:106 States if a Muslim is Compelled to Lie. It seems to me 'compelling' and 'allowing' are synonymous as they both can occur following conditions set by Muhammad:

  • 1. To keep the peace in his house,
  • 2. To protect himself
  • 3. To bring peace among people.

Why else would someone lie if it were not for those 3 conditions listed above. Read the list again and ask yourself if there is any other condition worth lying for.

Questions: What did Islam add to humanity as far as lying is concerned? What is it that Muslims are not allowed to do today, that pagans were allowed to do before the founding of Islam in regards to honesty?

References

  1. ↑ Preventing the West from Understanding Jihad, Jihad Watch, 17 July 2007

See also

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