Taqiyya and Kitman - A Refresher

During this Ramadan, American politicians, church leaders and others are being subjected by a public-relations onslaught. It's well to remember the strategies used by Muslims to "Outwit" by Redirecting Discourse and throughot outright lying.

Taqiyya and ‘Outwitting’ in contemporary political discourse and debates

1. Outwitting: Islamic spokesmen commonly use taqiyya as a form of ‘outwitting’. The matter under discussion is not to be debated or discussed; rather the opponent is to ‘outwitted’ through taqiyya, by diversion of the subject and obfuscation aided at times with a mystical reference to God or Allah.

2. The claim that difficulties in translating from Arabic to English make communication with non-Arab speakers difficult or impossible, is another form of outwitting. The tactical use of a translator offers considerable advantage.

3. Role playing as victim: Claiming to be 'the victim’ of religious discrimination and intolerance during debate or discussion is another form of distraction and ‘outwitting’.

4. Manipulating ambiguity: Sheik Hilaly of Sydney, Australia is on public record as (a) ’condemning’ the 9/11 attacks in ambiguous terms and (b) praising suicide and martyr operations However, Islamic spokesmen will rarely condemn a specific act of terrorism and direct questions will be skillfully evaded. More recent "discussions" by sheiks and other spokespersons routinely use this tactic which is easy to spot if you what to look for.

5. Diversion: For example, questions relating to the 9/11 terrorists attacks will be diverted by a causally irrelevant counter reference to the plight of the Palestinians, the nefarious role of Israel and US foreign policy and support for Israel as ‘causes’ of terrorism.

Example: Anti-Semitism, a core belief of Islamic fundamentalism is also skillfully diverted by misleading and exaggerated historical references to the alleged status enjoyed by Jews and non-believers under Islamic rule, thereby deflecting critical examination of the virulent contemporary Islamic anti-Semitism...

6. Tactical denial: Rather than admitting that a proposition concerning a state of affairs can be partly true, an Islamic spokesman will deny a claim or proposition in absolute terms. For example, “It is impossible to be a Muslim and a terrorist’ , which is false and ‘Islam forbids suicide’, which is true, but irrelevant as suicide or martyrdom attacks are not forbidden in the Koran.

7. Exploiting cognitive dissonance: Islamic spokesman tend to be baffle television interviewers and puzzle viewers as they resort to double talk ‘clichés and platitudes’ concerning Islam. A state of cognitive dissonance-holding two contradictory beliefs and attempting to resolve them- is induced in viewers as they attempt to process the claim that Islam is a peaceful religion with the dissonant facts of Islamic terrorist acts and operations.

8. The Islamic ’defence’ script: Islamic spokesmen repeat the same predictable platitudes concerning Islam in London as do Islamic spokesmen in every other place and often appear to follow a prepared script from “Islam is tolerant and peace loving’ to the claim by Islamic spokeswomen invariably claiming that wearing the veil offers them more freedom (women in Muslim countries are therefore ‘freer’ than women in western countries), thereby precluding further examination into the real status of women under Islamic rule.

Islamic platitudes are also echoed uncritically by Western politicians, for example ”A small group of fundamentalists have hijacked a great religion’...

9. The tactical use of children: Australia television viewers noted that interviews with terrorist suspects raided by security authorities invariably featured veiled women holding small children or a baby as they protested their husband’s innocence and attested to his innate goodness. Trembling fingers pointed to ‘damage’ to the family residence. In some interviews the suspect / father holds the child, whilst denying involvement or knowledge of terrorism in any sense of the word: an example of taqiyya in the age of impressions and perception management.

The plight of children in war zones created by unfeeling Zionists and now by Americans and their allies, is being used to work against Western guilt. The hypocrisy is more blantant when one compares what happens in defensive conflicts in which the West and Israel are involved and that of the plight of the children of Somalia and Darfur.

10. Taqiyya and the Deceptive use of Jihad: The contemporary political meaning of jihad is clear: it is Jihad of the sword

From: Daniel Pipes

Taqiyya, "holy lying", has been diffused throughout Arabic culture for over fourteen hundred years since it was developed by Shi'ites as a means of defence and concealment of beliefs against Sunni unbelievers and was used during the Spanish Inquisition as Sunni Moriscos, or Muslims in Spain that pretended to convert to Christianity after the re-conquest by Ferdinand and Isabela in 1492, attended mass and then returned home to wash their hands of the 'holy water'.

In operational terms, taqiyya and kitman allowed the ‘mujahadeen ' to assume whatever identity was necessary to fulfill their mission; they had doctrinal and theological and later jurisprudential sanction to pretend to be Jews or Christians to gain access to Christian and Jewish targets: ‘the mujahadeen can take the shape of the enemy'. According to Christian ethics lying is a sin; In Islamic jurisprudence and theology, the use of taqiyya against the unbelievers is regarded as a virtue and a religious duty.

Like many Islamic concepts taqiyya and kitman were formed within the context of the Arab-Islamic matrix of tribalism, expansionary warfare and conflict. Taqiyya has been used by Muslims since the 7th century to confuse and split 'the enemy'. A favored tactic was ‘deceptive triangulation'; to persuade the enemy that jihad was not aimed at them but at another enemy. Another tactic was to deny that there was jihad at all. The fate for such faulty assessments by the target was death.

On roadtrips as a child and before automobiles were equipped with DVD players and kids didn't have portable video games and iPods, we would amuse ourselves by being on the lookout for landmarks and characteristics such as "cars with a broken headlight" or with license plates from Arizona and so on: it keeps one alert and hones one's powers of observation.

Instead of turning the channel when a Muslim spokesperson come on, perhaps we should play "Spot the Taqiyya and Kitman" game with our young people who won't recogize these tactics within the strategies of taqiyya and kitman. As with sex and drugs, they won't know to do or say unless you tell them.