U won't know when taqiyyah hits you...

Submitted by Taj Ashaheed (United States), Mar 28, 2006 at 19:28

Many a times, islam-slammers love to cite the concept of Taqiyyah, asserting that Muslims are prone to deceive everyone about the truth of Islam.

Worse, many a times, people actually believe this accusation - however, the truth of the matter (pardon the pun) is that taqiyyah is not lying about Islam. It is hiding the fact that you are a Muslim for the sake of saving your life.

Why is there any importance to this concept? Because at the advent of Islam, when Muslims were persecuted for their faith a real question was abound regarding whether one could deny their faith to their torturers without having to face the displeasure of God.

A great, more contemporary example of taqiyyah can be seen practiced among our jewish brethren. In many cases, as they migrated and assimilated into various cultures, they changed their names in order to avoid anti-jewish sentiment. In the US, many prominent jewish personalities did this in order to avoid prejudices and biases.

Among muslims today it takes form in instances were Muslim women do not don the hijab or men who shave their beard, and in similar fashion, even change their names.

Thus, on a cursory level, you'd never know who was practicing taqiyyah since a practicioner would not even let you know they were Muslim!

Do Muslims lie about Islam? Hardly - it's a futile effort since the truth is self-evident. Do people have misconceptions about Islam? Of course - even some Muslims do. However, if we want to enjoin each other (as human beings) to upholding morals, honesty, and integrity, it helps to utitlize accurate criticisms - not misinformed prejudice...

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