Taqiyah By: Sayid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi

See link for book with Arabic    http://al-islam.org/taqiyah/

He who disbelieves in Allah after his belief in him, (is the liar) except he who is compelled while his heart remains steadfast with the faith (has nothing to worry). But he who opens his breast for infideli8ty\, on these is wrath of Allah, and for them is a great torment. (1)

            This verse of Qur’an refers to incident when “Ammar bin Yasin (May Allah be pleased with both) had to utter some words against Islam to save himself from the Quraishite infidels.

            It clearly allows hiding one’s true faith when one is in danger of one’s life. This rule is called taqiyah.

Question 1:   What is the meaning of “Taqiyah”?

Answer:         Its literal meaning is to safeguard; to defend; to fear; piety (because it saves one from the displeasure of Allah.

            This gist of above is that the word tiqayah means to be on guard, to fear, to be pious.

            The dictionary as Surah says:(Tiqayah, Tuqat: = piety)

Question 2:   What is its significance in Islamic terminology?

Answer:         In Islamic terminology it means “to save life, honour or property (either one’s own or of other believer/s) by hiding one’s belief or religion.(2)

Question 3:   Is it something peculiar to the Shi’sm, because I have heard many people accusing the Shi’as because of taqiyah?

Answer:         Every society, religion and group practices it and has prac5ticed it at one time or the other. You will find so many examples of taqiyah in Old and new Testaments, and even in the lives of the Holy Prophet of Islam, hi9s Companions and many Sunni Scholars.

Question 4:   But is this practice allowed in Islam?

Answer:         Yes. Allah has allowed it in the Qur’an; and reason too shows the wisdom of this permission.

                        Shah “Abdu ‘1-‘Aziz Dehlawi writes: It should be known that tiqayah is, infact, allowed by shari’ah, by authority of Quranic verses, “except when you have to guard against”, and “except he who is compelled while his heart remains steadfast with faith.”(3)

                        Famous Sunni scholar, “Allamah Wahidu ‘z-zaman Khan of Haydrabad ( India ) says: “Taqiyah is proved from Qur’an, “except when you have to guard against them”; and ignorant people think that tiqiyah is something peculiar to the Shi’as, while it is allowed in the Sunni faith also at times.”(4)

Question 5:   if you hide your belief and declare yourself to believe in some anti-Islamic tenets, won’t you automatically go outside the pale of Islam and become a ‘Kafir’?

Answer :        Belief and faith as well as the disbelief or rejection of faith (in short, Iman and Kufr) are basically the matters of “heart”. That is why Allah rebuked those newly-converted Arabs who claimed to be “Believers”:-

                        The desert Arabs say: We believe”. Say (unto them): “You believed not; rather say “we accepted Islam”, because the Faith has not yet entered your hearts.(5)

                         The declaration by tongue has a very minor role in it. A belief without declaration is acceptable but a declaration without bel4eif is condemned in the Qur’an in severest terms:-

                       When come unto thee the hypocrites, they say: “ we bear witness that verily you are the Messenger of Allah”; and verily Allah knows that you are certainly His Messenger and verily Allah bears witness that the hypocrites are certainly the lairs. (6)

                         Now remember that the life of a Muslim is very precious in the eyes of Islam. The importance attached to even one life is seen in this verse:-

                        And he who saves it (i.e., a human life) shall be as though he has saved the whole mankind.(7)

                        And a Muslim is bound to save a life from unlawful destruction, whether it is someone else’s or his own:-