The Importance Of Taqiyyah

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Graceful,

Oh Allah, send peace and blessings upon our beloved Prophet and Messenger Muhammad, as well as upon his purified Household. May Your damnation be upon all of their enemies, for they are Yours too.

Introduction

For centuries, the concept of taqiyyah (التقية) has been subject of criticism from non-Shias, either due to their lack of understanding of the concept or due to their aim to criticise anything different from the majority in Ahl al-Tashayyu.

Taqiyyah means dissimulation, to say or show outwardly something different from what the individual believes internally. This is not something that can be used at any moment, as it has been argued against us. But rather, it is for special cases where our lives or our religion might be threatened. A Shi’a cannot and must not deny this concept, for it has been mentioned several times by the Holy Imams of the Pure Household of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon them all).

In the Qur’an

مَنْ كَفَرَ بِاللهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ إِيمَانِهِ إِلَّا مَنْ أُكْرِهَ وَقَبْلُهُ مُطْمَئِنٌّ بِالإِيمَانِ وَلَٰكِنْ مَنْ شَرَحَ بِالْكُفْرِ صَدْرًا فَعَلَيْهِمْ غَضَبٌ مِّنَ اللهِ وَلَهُم عَذَابٌ أَلِيم.

“Any one who becomes an unbeliever after being a believer, excluding the one who is under compulsion and force while his hurt is firm in faith; but the one who goes on in disbelief, the Wrath of Allah is upon them and they will have a dreadful penalty” (16:106).

…وَمَنْ يَّفْعَلْ ذَٰلِكَ فَلَيْسَ مِنَ اللهِ فِي شَيْءٍ إِلَّا أَن تَتَّقُواْ مِنْهُمْ تُقَاةً…

“…And whoever does something that has nothing to do with Allah, except when taking precaution against them in prudence…” (3:28).

Narrations on its relevance

من كتاب صفات الشيعة قال أبو عبد الله عليه السلام: ليس من شيعة على من لا يتقي.

From the book Sifat Al-Shi’a: Abu Abdillah (peace be upon him) said: “Is not part of the Shi’ah he who does not perform taqiyyah”.[1]

من كتاب التقية للعياشي قال الصادق عليه السلام: لا دين لمن لا تقية له، وإن التقية لأوسع مما بين السماء والأرض، وقال عليه السلام: من كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر فلا يتكلم في دولة الباطل إلا بالتقية، وعنه عليه السلام إياكم عن دين من كتمه أعزه الله ومن أذاعه أذله الله، وعنه عليه السلام لا خير فيمن لا تقية له، ولا إيمان لمن لا تقية له.

From Kitab Al-Taqiyyah of Al-‘Ayashi: Imam Al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: “there is no religion for he who does not have dissimulation for him[self], verily taqiyyah is wider than what is between the Heavens and the Earth”. And he (peace be upon him) said: “he who believes in Allah and the Last Day should not speak in the State of falsehood except through dissimulation”. And from him (peace be upon him): “be careful with religion. Whoever conceals it, Allah will reward him; and whoever makes it public, Allah will humiliate him”. And from him (peace be upon him): “there is no good in whoever does not have taqiyyah, and there if no Faith [left] for whoever does not have taqiyyah”. [2]

قال الرضا عليه السلام: لا إسلام لمن لا ورع له، ولا إيمان لمن لا تقية له.

Imam Al-Ridha (peace be upon him) said: “there is no Islam for whoever has no piety for him[self], and there is no Faith for whoever does not have dissimulation.” [3]

عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال: إن أبي كان يقول: ما من شئ أقر لعين أبيك من التقية، إن التقية لجنة للمؤمن

From Abi Abdillah (peace be upon him) who said: “my father used to say: There is nothing more pleasing to your father than taqiyyah, for taqiyyah is a shield for the believer.” [4]

عن أبي بصير، عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال: التقية من دين الله، قلت: من دين الله؟ قال: إي والله من دين الله، ولقد قال يوسف: " أيتها العير إنكم لسارقون " والله ما كانوا سرقوا شيئا، ولقد قال إبراهيم: " إني سقيم " والله ما كان سقيما.

From Abi Basir, from Abi Abdillah (peace be upon him), who said: “Dissimulation is from Allah’s religion”. I [Abu Basir] said: “from Allah’s religion?” He answered: “Yes, by Allah it is from Allah’s religion, and Yusuf said: ‘O people of the camels, indeed you are thieves!’ By Allah, they did not steal anything. And Ibrahim said: ‘I am sick’, by Allah, he was not sick”. [5]

قال الصادق عليه السلام: من ترك التقية قبل خروج قائمنا فليس منا وقال عليه السلام التقية ديني ودين آبائي وقال الصادق عليه السلام من أذاع علينا شيئا من أمرنا فهو كمن قتلنا عمدا ولم يقتلنا خطأ، وقال عليه السلام: التقية في كل ضرورة و صاحبها أعلم بها حين تنزل به.

Imam Al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: “the one who abandons taqiyyah before the rising of our Qa’im is not from us”. And he (peace be upon him) said: “Dissimulation is my religion and the religion of my forefathers”. And he (peace be upon him) said: “whoever announces anything from our affairs is like the one who kills us intentionally and did not kill us unintentionally”. And he (peace be upon him) said: “Taqiyyah is in every necessity and its companion knows when it comes down to him”. [6]

قال الإمام العسكري عليه السلام - في خبر طويل يذكر فيه ما لقي سلمان من اليهود حين جلس إليهم فضربوه بالسياط وكلفوه أن يكفر بمحمد صلى الله عليه وآله ولم يفعل سلمان وسأل الله تعالى الصبر على أذاهم فقالوا: أو ليس محمد قد رخص لك أن تقول من الكفر به ما تعتقد ضده للتقية من أعدائك؟ فما لك لا تقول ما نقترح عليك للتقية؟ فقال سلمان: إن الله قد رخص لي في ذلك، ولم يفرضه علي، بل أجاز لي أن لا أعطيكم ما تريدون، وأحتمل مكارهكم، وجعله أفضل المنزلتين، وأنا لا أختار غيره 

Imam Al-Askari (peace be upon him) said in a long report, in which he mentions what Salman received from the Jews when he sat with them, so they beat him with whips and forced him [to declare] his disbelief in Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and Salman did not do [it], and he asked Allah to be patient on their harm, so they said: “Did Muhammad not permit you to verbally disbelieve in him through dissimulation in order to protect yourself from your enemies? So why don't you say what we suggest to you through taqiyyah?” Salman answered: “Allah has permitted me to do so, and has not made it obligatory upon me, rather he permitted me not to give you what you want, and I bear your hardships [upon me], and he made it the best of the two dwellings, and I haven’t chose anything apart from it”. [7]

Addressing tyrants by illegitimate titles

It is a well known fact that the title of Commander of the Faithful (in Arabic, Amir al-Mu’minin)  is reserved exclusively for Ali Ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon both of them). This is due to the Qur’anic verse:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِيْنَ آمَنُواْ أَطِيْعُواْ اللهَ وَأَطِيْعُواْ الرَّسُوْلَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنْكُمْ.

“Oh people who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those vested with authority among you”. (4:59)

However, the enemies of the Ahlulbayt (peace be upon them) abused this name and appropriated it for themselves. Despite this, the Pure Imams (peace be upon them) would still address the Abbasid Caliphs with this title, not because they agreed with such an outrageous action, but because they had to preserve the religion through dissimulation. Some examples are shown in the following narrations:

لما حمل زيد بن موسى (ع) إلى المأمون وقد كان خرج بالبصرة وأحرق دور ولد العباس، وهب جرمه لأخيه علي بن موسى الرضا وقال له: يا أبا الحسن لئن خرج أخوك وفعل ما فعل لقد خرج قبله زيد بن علي فقتل، ولولا مكانك مني لقتلته وليس ما أتاه بصغير. فقال الرضا عليه السلام: لا تقس يا أمير المؤمنين أخي زيدا إلى زيد بن علي فإنه كان من علماء آل محمد - الخ.

When Zayd Ibn Musa (peace be upon him) was carried to Al-Ma’mun and he had exited Basra and burned the houses of the sons of Al-Abbas, he [Zayd] gave his crime to his brother Ali Ibn Musa Al-Rida (peace be upon both of them) and said to him: “O Aba Al-Hasan, if your brother had revolted and done what had been done before him by Zaid Ibn Ali, he would have been killed. And had it not been for your status towards me, I would have killed him, and what he brought was not small.” Then Al-Rida (peace be upon him) said: “Do not compare, O Commander of the Faithful, my brother Zayd to Zayd Ibn Ali, for he was one of the scholars of the Family of Muhammad…” [8]

عن أبي بصير عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال بعث هشام بن عبد الملك إلى أبي عليه السلام فأشخصه إلى الشام فلما دخل عليه قال: يا أبا جعفر إنما بعثت إليك لأسألك عن مسألة لم يصلح أن يسألك عنها غيري ولا ينفعني أن يعرف هذه المسألة إلا رجل واحد. فقال أبي: يسألني أمير المؤمنين عما أحب فإن علمت أجبته وإن لا أعلم قلت لا أدري.

وبعد نقل السؤال والجواب قال: فتربد وجه هشام وامتقع لونه وهم أن يبطش بأبي فقال له أبي: يا أمير المؤمنين الواجب على الناس الطاعة لإمامهم والصدق له بالنصيحة، وإن الذي دعاني إلى ما أجبت به أمير المؤمنين فيما سألني عنه معرفتي بما يجب له من الطاعة فليحسن ظن أمير المؤمنين. فقال هشام: اعطني عهد الله - الخ.

From Abi Basir from Abi ‘Abd Allah (peace be upon him) who said: “Hisham Ibn Abd Al-Malik left towards my father (peace be upon him) and he was sent him to Sham, and when he reached it, he said: ‘Oh Aba Ja’far, I came to you to ask you about a matter no one else can ask you about, and it is useless for me that someone knows about this matter except for one man.’ So my father said: ‘the Commander of the Faithful asked me about what I like, and if I knew, I should answer him, and if I didn’t, I should say ‘I do not know.’’

“So after quoting the question and the answer, he said: ‘Hisham’s face became cold and dark  when he was going to hit my father’. So my father said: ‘O Amir Al-Mu’minin, what is mandatory for the people is obedience to their Imam and truthfulness towards him with advice. And the one who invited me to what I answered to the Commander of the Faithful from what he asked me is my knowledge, so let the Commander of the Faithful think well.’ So Hisham said: ‘Give me Allah’s convenant’”. [9]

Conclusion

Given all these narrations, it can only be said about Taqiyyah that it is obligatory upon a mu’min to believe in it, although it is not mandatory to perform it as shown by Imam Al-Askari (peace be upon him).

Peace and blessings be upon all of you,

Abu Haider