Truthfulness is a virtue that is compromised in Islamic practice by using such concepts as Takkiya “cover up” and Abrogation.
The idea of Takkiya allows for lying and deceiving others in order to forward Islam or preserve its good name.
It permits the suspension as the need arises of almost any of the religious requirements or its doctrines including a total denial of faith when fearing any kind of threat or injury and is sanctioned according to Sura 16:106
Also this includes the taking of oaths and is used as a tool among Muslim debaters when defending their faith as a means to hide and deny certain parts of the Quran in order to justify and advance the cause of Islam.
Furthermore I suspect that these deceptive practices are why some of my Muslim friends mostly misunderstand basic Christian doctrine.
In addition to this there is the doctrine of abrogation which was a method of convenience in replacing older revelations with newer ones and yet if the Koran is a perfect carbon copy of the eternal word then how can it be revised when it is supposed to be a word for word dictation. Additionally these abrogated verses are often quoted causing obscurity and evasiveness in a maneuver that is also a part of Takkiya. Therefore a person can conveniently use both sides of the argument when it is to their advantage.
So anyway if these practices are employed then how can a sincere Muslim worshipper be reassured that they are being told the truth? Also how can they be confident that Christianity is really a falsehood? If the Koranic verses can be twisted and misapplied then how is this any different then what the Christians and Jews are being blamed for in the mishandling of the bible which is known as “Tahrif”. Ironically the Suras originally confirmed the scriptures but latter abrogated them in spite of the fact that the passages in the bible didn’t change between the initial and final rulings on this matter. Thus they were either right or wrong from the onset as there was no way of them being altered since there are thousands of corroborating biblical manuscripts that predate Islamic times which in turn correlates with our modern translations. This would also include the pre-islamic writings of the ancient church fathers which utilized these scriptural references which could almost independently and entirely replicate these biblical passages long before Islam arrived on the scene. Not only that but how likely would it be for Christians and Jews who are primarily exclusive groups to cooperate in changing the Tanakh or the Old Testament and yet today the scriptures are essentially the same between both groups. I have written a post about this at
jesusandjews.com/wordpress/2010/02/03/is-the-bible-reliable/
Lastly if you still affirm this belief then who specifically changed the scriptures and which ones were changed and when was it done? Moreover what evidence do you have outside of Islamic thought which accurately corresponds to this view?
So in conclusion the concept of Takkiya “cover up” and Abrogation are accommodations which falsely represent God and true religion in resorting to eventing methodologies to support a misaligned belief system.
Finally are you willing to entrust your soul or commit yourself to a world view that practices this type of duplicity?
Beyond Opinion, Sam Soloman Ch.4, Copyright 2007, published in Nashville Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson