one important caveat: whenever Muslims find themselves under infidel authority, they may say and do almost anything—denounce Muhammad, receive baptism and communion, venerate the cross, all anathema to Islam—so long as their hearts remain true to Islam. Such is the doctrine of taqiyya,* which has traditionally defined Islam’s modus operandi under non-Muslim authority. Even the fanatical and uncompromising ribat warriors (al-murabitun) who devoted their lives to waging jihad on the Eastern Roman Empire were not above such dishonorable tactics, as relayed by the Baghdadi jurist Abd al-Jabbar:
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