The Truth:
Although Muslims are required to be truthful with
each other, Muhammad did approve of lying in cases where doing so advanced the
cause of Islam, either in war or peace. His famous statement that “War
is deceit” is found in Bukhari
52:269 and elsewhere. It is perfectly acceptable for a Muslim to
deceive an enemy in order to gain power.
This applied not only in war, but also when it
came to assassinating enemies of Islam. Muhammad gave permission for Muslims to lie in
order to draw out those who spoke against the "Religion of Peace" from their places of refuge so
that they might be killed for expressing their discontent. This was the case with the murder of Ka’b al-Ashraf,
who had composed derogatory poems about Muslim women:
Allah's Apostle said, "Who is willing to kill Ka'b bin Al-Ashraf who has hurt Allah and His Apostle?" Thereupon Muhammad bin Maslama got up saying, "O Allah's Apostle! Would you like that I kill him?" The
Prophet said, "Yes," Muhammad bin Maslama said, "Then allow me to say a (false)
thing (i.e. to deceive Ka'b). "The Prophet said, "You may say it." (Bukhari
59:369)
Muhammad also sent his men to kill a Jewish man at
Khaybar named Usayr ibn Zarim. In order to fool the victim into dropping his guard
and leaving his fortress, the Muslims pretended that Muhammad wanted to
reconcile their differences and that they had nothing to fear:
When they came to him they spoke to him and made him promises, treating him
well, saying that if he would come to the apostle, he would give him an
appointment and honor him. They kept on at him until he went with them with a
number of Jews… [Once the Jews were disarmed] all the apostles’ companions fell
upon their Jewish companions and killed them except one man who escaped on his
feet. (Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 981).
Muhammad found lies to be useful not just in
making it easier to kill his critics but also to secure debt (Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 770)
and bring peace:
Allah's Apostle said] "He who makes peace between the people by inventing good
information or saying good things, is not a liar." (Bukhari
49:857)
Islamic law has expanded on this theme to include lies that benefit personal
relationships, such as a man telling his wife something that isn’t true in order
to placate her.
In the present day, there are many lies and half-truths told about Islam and
Muhammad’s life that are intended to advance Islam in the West. In order to
justify the violent aggression of early Muslims, for example, many contemporary
scholars exaggerate the extent to which they were persecuted and often pretend
that Muhammad’s life was in real danger at Medina when, in fact,
it was not. Although knowing better,
these apologists often claim that true Muslims only fight in
self-defense and that Islam is tolerant of other religions, posing no threat to
Western values.
This is not to say that every Muslim who repeats these falsehoods is
knowingly dishonest. Most simply lack either the opportunity or the determination to learn
the ugly truth about their own religion.
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