What the NC ACLU should know about Taqiyya

From WRAL:

Legislators may be asked to decide if the Quran and other religious texts can be used for courtroom oaths, said a spokesman for the agency that manages state courts, as the ACLU pressed for a response on the texts' use.

The legal foundation of the ACLU of North Carolina has called on the state Administrative Office of the Courts to adopt a policy allowing the Quran and other religious texts for oath-taking in North Carolina courtrooms.

The request came after Guilford County's two top judges decided that Muslims could not legally take an oath on the Quran.

"We think they are dragging their feet," said Jennifer Rudinger, the state ACLU's executive director.

In addition, a Washington-based Islamic civil rights organization and Greensboro-area religious leaders have called on the AOC to act. The ACLU wrote a formal letter to the state agency June 28 but has not received a response.

Would you really like a response, Ms. Rudinger? I can provide a one-word response as to why the courts and legislature should prevent using the Quran for courtroom oaths.

Taqiyya.

Taqiyya, as defined by the Islamic scholars at the digital Islamic Library Project al-Islam.org, shows that:

The word "al-Taqiyya" literally means: "Concealing or disguising one's beliefs, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions, and/or strategies at a time of eminent danger, whether now or later in time, to save oneself from physical and/or mental injury." A one-word translation would be "Dissimulation."

The above definition must be elaborated upon before any undertaking of this topic is to ensue. Although correct, the definition suffers from an apparent generalization, and lacks some fundamental details that should be construed:

First, the CONCEALMENT of one's beliefs does NOT necessitate an ABANDONMENT of these beliefs. The distinction between "concealment" and "abandonment" MUST be noted here.

Second, there are numerous exceptions to the above definition, and they MUST be judged according to the situation that one is placed in. As such, one should NOT make a narrow-minded generalization that encompasses all situations, thereby failing to fully absorb the spirit of the definition.

Third, the word "beliefs" and/or "convictions" does NOT necessarily mean "religious" beliefs and/or convictions.

This Muslim scholars at al-Islam.org then go on to reference 14 Islamic sources proving that Islamic holy texts allow Muslims to lie under an oath on the Quran, and that the lie does not have to be religious in nature. As a matter of specific fact, in the second reference, the single most noted Islamic scholar in history, Abdullah Ibn Abbas said:

"al-Taqiyya is the uttering of the tongue, while the heart is comfortable with faith."

al-Islam notes that this means that a Muslim can lie about anything in a time of need, so long that he feels he is being truth in his heart to his faith.

An oath made on a religious text is symbolic of a person's desire to tell the truth while in a court of law. As the single most eminent of Muslims scholars hold that the Quran has no requirement to tell the truth while under oath, an oath sworn upon it is a meaningless exercise.

Someone should contact the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts to inform them of these facts.

NC AOCContact Page or call (919) 733-7107.