Friday, 8 October 2010

Popular Taqiyeh

The popular meaning of taqiyeh — which has gained wide currency throughout the modern Middle East — is when an individual seeks to avoid conflict with others by being less than forthcoming about their personal beliefs.

This can help protect someone from powerful authorities, but it also a strategy used in order to further a discussion designed to introduce controversial ideals in a piecemeal fashion. It is also a common sense strategy that when discussing difficult concepts it might be useful to start with points of agreement rather than beginning with a position that will be regarded as unacceptable. In this regard, taqiyeh might be regarded as a universal practice in that most people seek to protect themselves when broaching a difficult topic with powerful people. 

In effect, this is the daily horse-trading, halftruths and partial evasions that have helped people facilitate relationships in all cultural settings. But in the Middle East — particularly in states with authoritarian tendencies — taqiyeh can mean generally pushing the envelope of debate to that point where debate can take place, but not to the point where someone’s personal safety is endangered. In this regard, taqiyeh is a practical guide that allows people to be firm in their beliefs, but also allows them to protect their true feelings if it would endanger them personally.

Mir-Hosseini (1999)uses, repeatedly, this particular conception of taqiyeh in explanations concerning how she facilitated dialogue with the religious elite in Qom concerning women’s rights in Islam. In effect, she status that both she, and the people being interviewed, practiced a “modern” form of taqiyeh in order to facilitate conversation, remain true to individual ideals, but also stay out of trouble with the authorities..

From CULTURE AND TRADITIONAL FORMS OF SYMBOLIC PROTEST IN IRANIAN HISTORY http://bit.ly/c0tFki

 

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Posted via email from lissping

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