How incredibly arrogant must a group be to want to control the language or even the words that those that disagree with them use. The answer is a group that is incredibly arrogant and which does not fear for its income as as money extorted from taxpayers is shovelled their way.
This arrogant publicly funded group who are trying to do this is the Tell Mama organisation who have decided to go after the conservative commentator Melanie Phillips for using the word ‘taqiyya’. Taqiyya, as the word is commonly used among non-Muslims, is the act of uttering falsehoods in order to promote Islam or to reduce criticism of the ideology of Islam. It originated during one of the many violent phases of Islam’s existence when the minority Shia sect were persecuted by the more numerous Sunni sect of Islam. ‘Taqiyya’ is a word of Shia origin but it has a counterpart in Sunni Islam, the word ‘Muda’rat’.
It’s one of four well known tactics of dishonesty that a Muslim can use and such dishonesty is referenced in the Koran, the Hadith and the ‘Reliance of the Traveller’, something the Religion of Peace website helpfully lists. There are different types of dishonesty to promote or protect Islam that cover areas such as not telling non Muslims about certain aspects of Islam, lying by omission, creating a false impression and dishonestly blending in with a non Muslim host population setting aside some aspects of Sharia in order to advance others. Whilst these all have different Arabic names, many Westerners and other non-Muslims have used the term ‘Taqiyya’ as a catch-all term for the practise of lying for Islam.
It can be easily established that dishonesty, provided that it is done to protect or promote Islam or protect the believer, is a real and genuine thing. Maybe using the catch-all word Taqiyya is technically incorrect, but the meaning of its use is correct.
Tell Mama is trying to get the use of the word ‘Taqiyya’ criminalised and have deployed their own favoured academic sources and smear by association tactics to go after Ms Phillips. It’s plain from reading the article that they published on their website, that they are angry that a woman who like many of us have made the political journey from Left to Right and who is a doughty opponent of Islamism has used a word they don’t like. They publicly say that they’ve been lobbying prosecution authorities in order to have the word ‘taqiyya’ criminalised and give examples of their successes in prosecuting those who use the word ‘taqiyya’. Tell Mama mentioned the Tim Burton case where Mr Burton, formerly of Liberty GB and now a publicity officer of Britain First, was gaoled in 2017 for twelve weeks for the use of the word ‘taqiyya’ in communications with Fiyaz Mughal Tell Mama’s founder. My own recent arrest by Sadiq Khan’s ‘hate speech’ goon squad back in October is also connected to the alleged use of the word ‘taqiyya’.
I find the sort of arrogance exhibited here by Tell Mama by presuming the right to have words criminalised absolutely astonishing and this arrogance by them should be publicised in order that the danger that this group’s course of action represents to the issue of freedom of speech be more widely known. Of course this group has a right to its opinion, I tend to believe that in a free society must allow all voices including those who I disagree with or are disgusted by the right to speak. Tell Mama obviously disagree with that position and want to ban and criminalise the use of certain words.
It’s obvious to me that Melanie Phillips worries Tell Mama a lot, They would not have gone to all the trouble of smearing her by trying to associate her with Tommy Robinson or others who have criticised Islam, if they were not worried about something. The question is exactly what are they worried about? My guess is that they are somewhat worried that many more non-Muslims may be discovering that Islam does permit Muslims and Islamic groups to dissemble when faced with non-Muslims and hostility to Islam.
These permissions, as you can see when looking at the various Islamic scriptural references to them, go way way beyond those analogues to the idea of hiding belief or escaping from coerced vows as are to be found in other religions. For example: Judaism’s Kol Nidre or ‘all vows’ service that takes place immediately prior to Yom Kippur, came about when Jews were forced at swordpoint to become Christians. But, when the danger had past and the Jews wanted to return to Judaism, they were still bound by their coerced vow to become Christians, something that had to be legally remitted, hence the Kol Nidre service. Islamic dissembling is much more than the bringing back those who had been coerced out of Islam, Islamic dissembling is not a way to deal with a negative act, but instead to promote or protect Islam or to advance Islam. As I said this is far more of a problem than the analogues of Islamic dishonesty about Islam than can be found in other faiths.
I really hope that Tell Mama have bitten off more than they can chew by going after Melanie Phillips. She’s a clever and thoughtful woman with more resources, not just financial, than many have. I believe that Melanie Phillips who although is more than capable of dealing with groups like Tell Mama, deserves our support as she stands up to these publicly funded bullies.
