تقية
Taqiyya
Concealing one’s belief to escape persecution or grave harm; a concession, not a licence to deceive.
What it means
The Quran allows a believer under compulsion to speak words of disbelief while his heart is at peace in faith (16:106), and refers to taking precaution against those who threaten one’s safety (3:28). The best-known case is Ammar ibn Yasir, whom the Meccans tortured until he said what they wished.
Sunni scholars discuss the same permission under the name ruḵṣa, “a concession”.
Often misunderstood as
That Muslims may lie to non-Muslims to advance Islam.
What the sources say
The permission applies to preserving life under real threat, not to ordinary dealings. The Quran commands keeping covenants and oaths (16:91), and a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari names lying in speech as one of the marks of a hypocrite. Claims that taqiyya is a general doctrine of deceiving unbelievers come chiefly from outsiders, not from the sources.