The Party for Freedom (PVV) has added a new word to Dutch vocabulary: takiyya. It says it is an Islamic rule that allows Muslims to lie to non-Muslims.
In his recently-published book, PVV MP Martin Bosma describes takiyya as “lying to strengthen Islam.” It amounts to Muslims being able to present themselves as liberal and modern, while secretly working on the introduction of the Sharia.
In a debate last week, GroenLinks leader Femke Halsema accused PVV leader Geert Wilders of making all Muslims suspect with the reference to takiyya. Wilders advised her to seek information from Islam experts.
If Halsema were to go to Maurits Berger for advice, she would not be convinced of Wilders’ views. The professor of Islam in the present-day West reacted angrily to the PVV message in De Volkskrant newspaper yesterday.
“How dare Wilders throw around Islamic terms about which he does not have a clue? Takiyya is a concept from the Middle Ages. It infuriates me that such a dogma from the past should be stuck onto the Muslims of today. It is as if you claimed that Christians think women who stay afloat are witches.”
“Only among extreme groups does this secrecy still do the rounds,” according to Berger. He considers it a “complete scandal” that Wilders and Bosma have introduced it. “This is manifest incitement to hatred.”