Not To Be Confused with the Shofar Note

Justin Elliott has a good glossary of terms from Islamic law that tend to be badly misused by right-wing anti-Muslim zealots (his source is Islam expert John Esposito of Georgetown University). We recently saw a sterling example of this courtesy of the Washington Times, which invoked the doctrine of "Taqiyya" in support of a bizarre theory that Anthony Weiner may have secretly converted to Islam.

"Taqiyya" is often described by the ignorant as a blanket dispensation to lie to nonbelievers; in reality, it is a limited Shi'ite Islam doctrine that permits one to deny being a Muslim where one's life is in danger or it would otherwise lead to severe persecution. In this, its closest historical parallel is probably to Marranos -- Spanish Jews who faked a conversion to Christianity in order to escape persecution during the Inquisition.