Tawriyah

Tawriyah (Arabic) in Islam is supposedly the best form of Taqiyah. Taqiyah is the religiously sanctioned practice of deception, originally allowed to save one's life from religious persecution, and later extended as an obligatory or permitted practice to war and other situations.

Tawriyah is the formulation of Delphic, ambiguous statements that make the person to be deceived believe you are agreeing with them, when in fact you are not.

An example of this as cited by Muslims from Christian sources, occurred when St Paul is brought before a gathering of the Jews, who wanted to condemn him, as related in the book of Acts 23:6‑9:

But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; to the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.

And when he had so said, there arose a dissension be­tween . the Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided.

For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisee, confess both.

And there arose a great cry: and the Scribes that were of the Pharisees' part arose, and strove„saying, We find no evil in this man.

Likewise, a Muslim fable relates of a believer (follower of Moses) a cousin of  Pharoah who was brought to trial by enemies:

Pharaoh was naturally furious, and asked his cousin to explain it. The court was full. "The believer from the family of Pharaoh" asked them:

The Believer: Tell me who is your Lord?

Courtiers: Pharaoh.

The Believer: Who is your Creator?

Courtiers: Pharaoh.

The Believer: Who is your sustainer, who guarantees your livelihood and removes your troubles?

Courtiers: Pharaoh.

Then the Believer declared: "O King! I keep you and all these present as my witness that their Lord is my Lord, and their Sustainer is my Sustainer; and the One , who looks after their lives and livelihood is the One who looks after my life and livelihood. I have no Lord or Creator except their Lord, Creator and  Sustainer..."

Pharaoh's anxiety vanished and the backbiters were severely tortured and put to death.(Source: at‑Tabrasi, al‑Ihtijaj,. Beirut, 1403/1983, vol. 2, pp. 3711‑371.)

In both these cases, it is also noteworthy that the lie caused dissension in the ranks of the enemy.

Encyclopedia of the Middle East

Note - This encyclopedia is a work in progress. It is far from complete and is being constructed and improved all the time. If you would like to contribute articles or expansions of existing articles, please contact news (at) mideastweb.org.  Suggestions and corrections are welcome. The concise version of this dictionary is at our Middle East Glossary.

Spelling - Spelling of words in Middle-Eastern languages is often arbitrary. There may be many variants of the same name or word such as Hezbollah, Hizbolla, Hisbolla or Husayn and Hussein. There are some conventions for converting words from Semitic languages such as Arabic and Hebrew.  There are numerous variant renderings of the same Arabic or Hebrew words, such as "Hizbollah," "Hisbulla" etc. It is not possible to find exact equivalents for several letters. 

Pronunciation - Arabic and Hebrew vowels are pronounced differently than in English. "o" is very short. The "a" is usually pronounced like the "a" in market, sometimes as the "a" in "Arafat."  The " 'A " is guttural.  " 'H "- the 'het ('Hirbeh, 'Hebron, 'Hisbollah') designates a sound somewhat similar to the ch in "loch" in Scots pronunciation, but made by touching the back of your tongue to the roof of your mouth. The CH should be pronounced like Loch, a more assertive consonant than 'het.

The "Gh" combination, and sometimes the "G," designate a deep guttural sound that Westerners may hear approximately as "r." The "r" sound is always formed with the back of the tongue, and is not like the English "r."

More information: Hebrew, Arabic