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To better understand Islam, one must appreciate the thoroughly
legalistic nature of the religion. (..)

"Common sense" or "universal opinion" has little to do with Islam's
notions of right and wrong.
Only what Allah (through the Quran) and his prophet Muhammad
(through the Hadith) have to say about any given issue matters;
and how Islam's greatest theologians and jurists – collectively
known as the ulema, literally, "they who know" –
have articulated it.

According to sharia, in certain situations, deception –
also known as 'taqiyya', based on Quranic terminology, –
is not only permitted
but sometimes obligatory.
For instance, contrary to early Christian history, Muslims who must
choose between either recanting Islam or being put to death
are not only permitted to lie by pretending to have apostatised,
but many jurists have decreed that, according to Quran 4:29,
Muslims are obligated to lie in such instances.

ORIGINS OF TAQIYYA
As a doctrine, taqiyya was first codified by Shia Muslims,
primarily as a result of their historical experience.
Long insisting that the caliphate rightly belonged to the prophet
Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, Ali
(and subsequently his descendents), the Shia were
a vocal and powerful branch of Islam that emerged following
Muhammad's death.
After the internal Islamic Fitna wars from the years 656 AD to
661 AD, however, the Shia became a minority branch,
persecuted by mainstream Muslims or Sunnis – so-called because
they follow the example or 'sunna' of Muhammad and his companions.
Taqiyya became pivotal to Shia survival. (..)

Several of Saudi Arabia's highest clerics have even issued fatwas
sanctioning the killing of Shias.
As a result, figures on the Arabian kingdom's Shia population vary
wildly from as low as 1 per cent to nearly 20 per cent.
Many Shias living there obviously choose to conceal their religious
identity. As a result of some 1,400 years of Shia taqiyya,
the Sunnis often accuse the Shias of being habitual liars,
insisting that taqiyya is ingrained in Shia culture.

Conversely, the Sunnis have historically had little reason to
dissemble or conceal any aspect of their faith,
which would have been deemed dishonorable, especially when dealing
with their historic competitors and enemies, the Christians.
From the start, Islam burst out of Arabia subjugating much of
the known world,
and, throughout the Middle Ages, threatened to engulf all of
Christendom.
In a world where might made right, the Sunnis had nothing to
apologise for, much less to hide from the 'infidel'.

Paradoxically, however, today many Sunnis are finding themselves
in the Shias' place: living as minorities in Western countries
surrounded and governed by their traditional foes.
The primary difference is that, extremist Sunnis and Shia tend to
reject each other outright,
as evidenced by the ongoing Sunni-Shia struggle in Iraq,
whereas, in the West, where freedom of religion is guaranteed,
Sunnis need only dissemble over a few aspects of their faith.

/ / /

Following the terrorist attacks on the United States of 11 September
2001, a group of prominent Muslims wrote a letter to Americans
saying that Islam is a tolerant religion that seeks to coexist
with others.

Bin Laden castigated them, saying:

"As to the relationship between Muslims and infidels, this is
summarised by the Most High's Word:
'We renounce you. Enmity and hate shall forever reign between us –
till you believe in Allah alone'

[Quran 60:4].

So there is an enmity, evidenced by fierce hostility from the heart.
And this fierce hostility – that is battle – ceases only if
the infidel submits to the authority of Islam,

or if his blood is forbidden from being shed [a dhimmi –
a non-Muslim subject living as a "second-class" citizen in an
Islamic state in accordance to Quran 9:29],
or if Muslims are at that point in time weak and incapable
[a circumstance under which taqiyya applies].

But if the hate at any time extinguishes from the heart, this is
great apostasy!
Such, then, is the basis and foundation of the relationship between
the infidel and the Muslim.
Battle, animosity and hatred, directed from the Muslim to the infidel,
is the foundation of our religion.
And we consider this a justice and kindness to them."

This hostile world view is traceable to Islam's schools of
jurisprudence.
When addressing Western audiences, however, Bin Laden's tone
significantly changes.

/ /

( fra -- forelesninger -- av Raymond Ibrahim )