This is appalling: I was once asked by (…
This is appalling:
What kind of journalism is that?
(John Ware, in case you don’t know, made a documentary about the charity Interpal which was aired, controversially perhaps, during Israel’s freedom struggle against Lebanon.)
thabet, 
null 3:08 am on June 5, 2009 Permalink
Like Safia and Yakoub explained in the initial thread, I had no idea what the word actually meant when an Islamophobic acquaintance asked me if I practice it.
Apart from the novelty of experience being called a liar to your face is, the way the taqiyya meme started among jafi circles and propagated its way into the semi-mainstream is a good example the backwards approach hostile non-muslims take to ‘understanding’ Islam. That is, they would scour the footnotes of Islam for a practice that 99% of most aren’t familiar with, but would convince themselves that this is the bedrock of Islamic philosophy. Ask them to simple questions like how many times a day Muslims pray or what the pillars of Islam are and they’ll draw a blank. But because they (mis)understand genuine arabic words like taqiyya, jihad and dhimmi, they think they’ve got you all figured out. You can’t reason with someone who treats you like you’re in a secret cult. You certainly can’t reason with someone who will ask you if you’re in a secret cult and wait for a response.
Conrad Barwa 5:56 am on June 5, 2009 Permalink
I had read about it way back in some textbook but forgot about it until it came up in the inital story. Am I mistaken in thinking that it was something advocated primarily amongst Shia communities in the past?
Never heard it used in the modern context as an accusation towards an individual’s behaviour till now. Shocking really. Ware should be ashamed of himself for asking such dumb questions.
null 6:11 am on June 5, 2009 Permalink
I’m kind of relieved that you haven’t heard of it before. It must not be as common an accusation to level at a Muslim as I had thought. Its probably a sign I’ve just been reading too much Atlas Shrugs and Jeehad watch lately heh.
Yes, I believe it was originally developed in Shia circles in the past, in the face of persecution. “Is it okay to deny you’re Shia if you fear risk of death for admitting it?”. Is that correct, Aziz?
I’m not even sure that its there’s consensus among Shias on the issue, and yet jafis use this word to treat all Muslims, in all situations as bald faced liars.
aziz 7:36 am on June 5, 2009 Permalink
(designated Shi’a hat on!
Yes, the way I’ve been taught is that it’s a means of preserving beliefs while under persecution. Its not lying, its essentially a get-out-of-jail free card for NOT upholding your religious practice, such as if you are a Shi’a in Saudi Arabia who dares not attend an Ashura ceremony – or a Sunni muslim who dares not offer zuhr in a public parking lot in Santa Fe, Texas.
The dissimulation part applies more to cases where for example you are being interrogated as to your faith, in which case you’d lie and pretend you werent muslim at all, though this really applied more to the Prophet’s SAW time, when the Meccans were actively trying to stamp Islam out. I think Jews have historically had more solid rationale to practice taqqiya of that sort than muslims ever have (Nazi-era germany comes to mind – taqqiya among German Jews is a matter of historical fact, and rightly so).
I have been personally threatened with physical harm in a village in Yemen, so i can see the need for a doctrine of this sort. But its hardly a Shi’a only thing; its really common sense for anyone of any faith facing persecution. In a sense ts a doctrine intended to stop you from martyring yourself needlessly.
Conrad Barwa 10:39 am on June 5, 2009 Permalink
Aziz – I am not saying it is a Shia exclusive pratise but I seemed to recall the term orginated as a way for Shia communities to avoid persecution under hostile (usually Sunni) regimes – is this correct?
aziz 11:39 am on June 5, 2009 Permalink
my understanding is that it predates the sectarian split, and was practiced during the Meccan era of persecution. Someone more knowledgeable than myself can probably quote relevant hadith; im really not very knowledgeable
null 8:26 am on June 5, 2009 Permalink
Hey thabet, shouldn’t this and some other posts on the topic have a ‘taqiyya’ label?
islamoyankee 12:19 pm on June 5, 2009 Permalink
Aziz, as a minor correction, taqiyya initially meant covering practices that would set you apart, such as how we hold our hands during salah. Yaani, do not draw attention to yourself as a target. As to what you describe, it’s a much later development that I thought was post-Fatimid, and am surprised to hear that’s what you are taught. There must be an interesting history there.
aziz 8:09 pm on June 5, 2009 Permalink
maybe “taught” was too taught a word – it was actually in a sabaq where we kind of went off tangent. mainly because of my Yemen story, which i really need to share later…
islamoyankee 12:23 pm on June 5, 2009 Permalink
BTW, the charge is quite common amongst sophisticated Islamophobic circles. I’ve tangentially discussed it here:
http://tinyurl.com/c3ocwb
plimfix 1:41 pm on June 5, 2009 Permalink
This conversation took place in relation to a programme about Muslims in Britain, in which Ware pinned down the then head of MCB, Iqbal Sacrani, over attending a memorial for a Hamas leader murdered by the Israelis. Ware believed it was evidence Sacrani supported suicide bombing. Sacrani begged to differ, but being the Muslim televisual equivalent of IDS, he was easy meat for the likes of Ware.
At the time he first spoke to me, Ware didn’t even know what the programme was going to be about – he was making a story about British Muslims and was shopping for a central story, that much he DID know. He had a vague notion of focusing on Wahabbi influences in the UK. I got “Wahhabi-ed” when I converted at Leeds Uni, in part thanks to a lot of cheap literature that was circulating, which interested Ware. However, his line of questioning to myself and others made to me suspect he was raking for dirt about Muslims, not “looking for a story”, and I eventually backed away. Interestingly, he paints an entirely different picture of his work in this Guardian interview of 2006.
Ware helped Irish people wrongly convicted of terrorism through his work, so intitially I trusted him, but my encounter with him led me to do quite a lot of research into journalism and Muslims in the media. My view is, Ware was and is just yer standard big time journo, happy to be a hero but not untypically short on scruples, looking for good copy. And let’s face it, bashing Muslims is damned good copy.
willow 9:46 pm on June 5, 2009 Permalink
The head of the MCB was named Iqbal The Drunk? That is awesome.
Muse 2:42 pm on June 5, 2009 Permalink
whenever i see the word “taqiya” i think pillows, since that’s the urdu word for it (pronunciation is a little different though). this is probably funny only to me.
Pretty Pink Unicorns 5:00 pm on June 5, 2009 Permalink
I’ve actually seen Muslims reply that taqiyyah is a pillow before, although mostly on non-political sites since anyone who reads anything by the Rabid Right quickly has the above conversation re: its usage and meaning. Which, of course, is supposed by the Rabid to mean “lying”, when in fact it contains a lot of specific provisos like “under threat” etc.
In a tangent, my Arabic teacher laughed at me when I said “Madonna studies qabbalah”, since that means “snogging” in Arabic.
thabet 11:44 pm on June 6, 2009 Permalink
Heh. No I think that’s funny. In fact, it has potential to be a brilliant riposte when you see stupid accusations of ‘taqiyya’.
razib 7:48 pm on June 5, 2009 Permalink
i’ve been accused of being a fake atheist who is a secret muslim
usually be pro-israel types.
plimfix 11:57 pm on June 5, 2009 Permalink
Sir Iqbal Abdul Karim Mussain Sacranie (sorry, wrong spelling): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iqbal_Sacranie