Taqiyyah

Surah 3 (Al-Imran/The House of Imran): 28

Let not the believers take the disbelievers for friends rather than believers.

And whoever does this has no connection with Allah – except that you guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully.

And Allah cautions you against His retribution. And to Allah is the eventual coming.

[‘The Holy Qur’an, English Translation and Commentary’, Maulana Muhammad Ali, 2010, (Lahore Ahmadiyya)]

 

The above verse is sometimes cited by critics of Islam as the approval of deceit as a hostile strategy against unbelievers. This understanding of taqiyyah, however, is based less upon the text of this passage, than upon the exegesis of Ibn Kathir, in the most widely read Qur’an commentary, in relation to it:

(‘...except that you guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully‘) means ‘except those believers who in some areas or times fear for their safety from the disbelievers.’ In this case, such believers are allowed to show friendship to the disbelievers outwardly, but never inwardly.

For instance, al-Bukhari recorded that Abu Ad-Darda [a companion of Muhammad] said:

‘We smile in the face of some people although our hearts curse them.’’

 

See also {16.106}.