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The Myths Of Muhammad
The Myth: Muhammad Never Approved of Dishonesty
“Our Prophet (peace be upon him) never lied and always exhorted his followers to the highest standards of integrity.”
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.
The Myth: Muhammad Never Approved of Dishonesty
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https://discerning-Islam.org
Last Update: 03/2021
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