Grin and curse them

by Mindy Belz
World Magazine

In July I wrote a column about the widespread use of taqiyya, or the Muslim art of deception, after an Iranian told me, “A Muslim cannot be a real Muslim if he does not use taqiyya.” That helped to explain a lot about the perpetual seesaw the West confronts in dealing with, say, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (“I want to wipe Israel off the map,” “I am not anti-Jewish at all.”). As Mohammad’s confidante Abu Darda said (and Islamic scholars affirm) in describing taqiyya, “Let us grin in the face of some people while our hearts curse them.”

Now Raymond Ibrahim, associate director of the Middle East Forum and someone who has tutored me on the subject, has written a must-read article on the concept of taqiyya—and how it relates to the growing threat of homegrown terror in the United States.

In their statements directed at European or American audiences, Islamists maintain that the terrorism they direct against the West is merely reciprocal treatment for decades of Western and Israeli oppression. Yet in writings directed to their fellow Muslims, this animus is presented, not as a reaction to military or political provocation but as a product of religious obligation.

…Yet most Westerners continue to think that Muslim mores, laws, and ethical constraints are near identical to those of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

The article is somewhat long and scholarly—but worth your time.