Taqqiya

Michael Rubin at NRO gets everything wrong 9/28/2006

Taqqiya means "dissimulation": i.e. misinforming people of one's views in order to stay alive. Although some Shi'ites reject the term, there is little doubt that such activity was allowed by Shi'ite jurists over the centuries as a way to allow their people to survive under persecution.

A western corallary in Catholicism is that of allowing Mental Reservation to Catholics under persecution and certain other circumstances. [I know this is a "Hitler example" but it works: a Nazi comes into a convent in occupied France and asks the mother superior "are their any Jews here?"; she responds "No" (and holds in her mind the qualification "as far as you are concerned").]

It is important to note that taqqiya has NEVER been approved by any Sunni school of thought. Rubin though suggests it applies to Muslims in general.