ESSAY PERFIDY: A CHRISTIAN & MUSLIM SUMMARY

Mark Coppenger

Shrewd and innocent as a sheep among wolves (Matt. 10:16), or merely a wolf in sheep’s clothing?

ahab stuck her neck out to have lied, though she may well mendacity had been abrogated Rhelp the two spies Joshua have done so only because, as a or qualified.2 dispatched to reconnoiter pagan, she wasn’t aware of the Jericho, and she’s duly honored Mosaic . She was rewarded In Summa Theologica, Thomas later in Hebrews 11’s “Faith Hall for “benevolence” rather than Aquinas took up the question of Fame.” Though, as revealed in “deceit,” for “benignity of mind, of truth-telling in his remarks Joshua 2, she lied to city author- not the iniquity of lying.”1 on ambushes, which some ities to protect the undercover count as illicit deception, since Israelites, these courageous those who hide say, in effect, men of God didn’t rebuke her AUGUSTINE & AQUINAS “Nobody dangerous is awaiting for speaking falsehood. Rather, For Augustine, the prohibition you here.” Turns out, both he they cherished the care and intel against lying was absolute. In and Augustine, whom he cited she provided them and made his essays on the subject, he in this connection, made al- sure she was safe when the city appealed to the Decalogue’s lowance for this practice. After was sacked. So, we might be proscription of “false witness,” all, we don’t have an obliga- inclined to excuse her for tell- to Jesus’ directive that we stick tion to reveal everything we ing the city cops, “They went fastidiously to “yea” and “nay,” know. Indeed, God Himself told thataway!” when she well knew and to Paul’s insistence that the Joshua to “lay ambushes for the Hebrews were hiding on “new man” should “put away the city of Hai” (Josh. 8:2), and the premises. But Augustine lying.” Furthermore, Augustine Jesus counseled his followers would have none of that. He found no scriptural to to conceal certain things from maintained she was wrong to think the condemnation of derisive unbelievers—“Give

49 not that which is holy to dogs” is a forensic concept centered thing, along with another good (Matt. 7:6). But Thomas drew on slander and libel in the court thing—putting him in a literal the line against telling someone of public opinion and perjury box in the hoosegow. something false or the breaking against an innocent party in a of promises. These are “always court of law. Both turn on the The issue is not whether I con- unlawful.”3 issue of willful harm to those cealed as opposed to signaled who don’t deserve it. a state of affairs, but rather It strikes me that this is slic- the nature of the one to whom ing things a bit thin. Insisting What constitutes harm? I’d sug- the concealing or signaling is that the distinction between gest it boils down to loss of free- aimed. There are no absolute “withholding or concealing” and dom. If a madman kidnaps me moral rules against impris- “presenting or telling” marks and locks me in a basement, he’s onments and falsehoods, but the beginning of a lie could lead taken away my freedom to move there are rules against unjust- to : such as insist- about the world according to my ly-imposed imprisonments and ing there’s a morally relevant values and plans. If the county falsehoods. difference between putting on sheriff locks me in a basement camouflage—with streaks of jail cell because I drove drunk David Gushee makes the point grease paint on your face and into a busy crosswalk, he de- in Kingdom Ethics, where he grass in your helmet band—and prives me of the same oppor- draws on the example and writ- 1) intending to withhold knowl- tunities—he harms me in the ings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer vis- edge of your presence, and 2) same way—but justly so. It’s à-vis the Nazis. He argues that intending to present yourself as not the locking in a basement “you have to ask in what way a part of the vegetation. In both per se that’s wrong, but the un- person is entitled to demand cases, the intention is to give the deserved confinement therein. truth speech from others.” He enemy the wrong impression. Some harms are warranted. posits “implicit covenants” for candor, the sort not suitable So, what shall we say of lying with the SS, the Nazi Party’s THE PRINCIPLE BEHIND THE or deception? It too is a form of elite paramilitary organization.4 RULE confining or shackling some- Popular images of the Decalogue one—in this case with a false tablets sometimes render the narrative—to a condition lim- ROOM FOR RUSES & FEINTS sixth commandment as “do iting the person’s ability to act Just war tradition has followed not kill” and the ninth com- judiciously. If you tell me that this thinking, permitting great mandment as “do not lie.” Both you have a medical degree when leeway for deception. Examples renderings are misleading. In you don’t, you not only steal abound: the former instance, it should something (credit for having read, “do not murder.” Among professional credentials), but • Confederate General Adam other , we know this you also put me in a dangerous Johnson, with a force of only because in the very next chap- position of trust, hedging me ter, Exodus 21, God prescribed about with dangerously false 12 men, compelled 2,000 the death penalty for certain expectations. Indiana militiamen to evac- offenders. As for the latter com- uate Newburgh, Indiana. He mandment, the ninth, the sense The harm of a lie is perfectly fit- simply mounted stovepipes of the actual wording, “do not ting for catching a bank robber on his wagons, creating the 5 bear false witness,” and the seeking confidential treatment impression of artillery. modifier, “against thy neighbor,” for the broken leg he suffered • Another Confederate gen- is often downplayed, even when when jumping from the teller’s eral, Nathan Bedford For- accurately quoted. In trying to counter. If we can trick him by rest, sent mounted troops understand either command- offering, on the dark web, clan- through dry cornfields ment, we stumble when we fix destine medical services for fel- “shouting orders to non-exis- on the rule with no sense of con- ons and entice him to visit our tent units.” A single horse and “clinic” (where he’ll be nabbed), text or the underlying principle, rider could sound like ten.6 namely . we’ve done something proper. Our phony statements “put him • In southeast England, Killing is morally evil when it in a box” and deprived him of World War II Allied forces takes an innocent life inten- the freedom to make a well-in- employed “wetbobs” (fake tionally. Bearing false witness formed choice, but that’s a good landing craft assault ships)

50 and “bigbobs” (fake landing 2003, The Telegraph explained Bible allows “ruse, wiles, or craft tank ships) with the crime: tricks” in war, but there are oil seepage, wash-laden “tricks that are unacceptable clotheslines, etc., to deceive The feigning of civilian, and forbidden” in all cases. the about the lo- non-combatant status is cation of the impending one of the acts of perfidy For instance, were I to invasion of the continent.7 specifically prohibited by assure somebody that if the first protocol to the he came to see me in an • In 1943 the British took Conventions, allotted place, I would be the corpse of an indigent, adopted in 1977. Other there to speak with him, Glyndwr Michael—who examples of perfidy are and he came according died by suicide—dressed misusing a flag of surren- to my assurance, and I and outfitted him as a mil- der and pretending to be surprised him there by itary courier (“Acting Major wounded. some trick to harm him or William Martin”), and cast kill or capture him, such him ashore on the Spanish Although this protocol an act would be right evil coast, where Germans ac- has not been ratified by treason.11 cessed his bogus message the United States—or, and acted accordingly, indeed, Iraq—perfidy is In the seventeenth century, shifting troops to Greece a generally accepted prin- Samuel von Pufendorf seconded to meet an invasion which ciple of . this sentiment, saying in On the was actually set for Sicily.8 Article 37 of the first pro- of Man and Citizen that tocol defines it in terms of • During one of the kami- one has the “right to use fraud betraying a confidence. and deceit against an enemy, kaze attacks on the Fifth Troops might reasonably provided one does not violate Fleet as it lay off Okinawa drop their guard when one’s pledge of faith. Hence, in the Spring of 1945, naval approached by civilians one may deceive an enemy by Samuel Eliot or men with white flags; false statements or fictitious Morison “observed two it is therefore perfidious stories, but never by promises aircraft apparently locked to misuse the status of a or agreements.12 in a deadly dog fight. Sud- non-combatant.10 denly, they broke off the The notion has been echoed fight, and both dived on Contempt for perfidy is cut from repeatedly, as in the American American warships. The the broader just war cloth. It Civil War, when General Orders, dog fight had been a clever, honors the jus ad bellum prin- No. 100, at article 118, directed, and successful, ruse to keep ciple of “right intent” (i.e., a just “It is justly considered an act of American fighters from in- ) in that flags of truce are bad faith, of infamy or fiend- terfering with the two ka- peace-seeking instruments. It ishness, to deceive the enemy mikazes, and to keep ships’ honors the jus in bello princi- by flags of protection,” for, as antiaircraft gunners from ple of “distinction,” by which it said in article 114, the flag of taking the risk of shooting non-combatants are not tar- truce has a “sacred” character, down a ‘friendly’ airplane.”9 geted—combatants posing as non-combatants could tempt and its abuse is “an especially 13 NO ROOM FOR PERFIDY good troops to abandon that heinous offense.” scruple. It also honors the con- There are, however, limits to cerns of jus post bellum, for Despite these scruples, the prac- the deception morally allowable acts of treachery during war tice continues: in war. Not just anything goes. can prompt punitive, petulant, There are cases where I must and provocative “overkill” by One tactic from Pales- trust you, and you must trust the victor in settling things at tine—the suicide vest—is that I trust you—violations of the end. relatively new to both Iraq which are considered acts of and Afghanistan. Right perfidy or treachery. The perfidy taboo enjoys a long before 9/11, bombers pos- . For instance, in The ing as journalists [“feign- In covering the suicide-bomb Book of Deeds of Arms and ing civilian status”] killed murder of four American sol- Chivalry, Christine de Pizan Northern Alliance leader diers by an Iraqi army officer in (1364-1431) argues that the Massoud.

51 A dummy Sherman tank is prepped for deployment as part of Operation Fortitude, one of three major operations of Bodyguard. During World War II, the Allies employed this deception plan prior to the 1944 invasion of Europe in order to mislead German high command as to the time and place of the real invasion. Source: US Army.

At the start of the U.S. to take a brief look at Islam for the world is divided be- Assault on Fallujah in purposes of contrast. Neither tween Dar al-Islam (Do- November of 2004, one their literature nor their track main of Islam)—the terri- group of insurgents record mirrors the scruples tory where Islam rules—and waved a white flag as if common in the West. But first, Dar al-Harb (Domain of to surrender: As soon as let’s visit a quote from Sissela War)—the territory under U.S. forces exposed them- Bok’s book Lying, one that re- the control of unbelievers, selves, they came under flects the tension common in in active or potential con- heavy, well-directed ma- Judeo-Christian : flict with Islam’s domain.18 chinegun fire.14 [A] special case might • Within this perpetual state Alas, the aforementioned be made for deception in of war, there is no firm pro- Confederate Nathan Bedford lawful, declared hostili- hibition on lying; rather, Forrest also flirted with this sin ties, as against tax-evad- taqiyah (strategic decep- when he sent fake deserters into ers or counterfeiters, or tion) is sanctioned, not only the Union camps to paint false between openly war- in the cause of military vic- pictures and size up the enemy. ring parties. Such open tory but also for purposes Once released to go home, they declarations lessen the of securing and extending scurried back to Forrest to re- probability of error and the sway of Muslim preach- port and resume their belliger- of purely personal spite, ments and public poli- 15 ency. The moral problem lay so long as they are open to cies. [Among the sources in their non-combatant drama. questioning and requests for this doctrine are the (Incidentally, this is an old trick, for accountability.17 Qur’an 2:225 and 16:106, one performed by the Hittites which allow Muslims to on Ramses II in 1288 at the Straightforward enough, but protect themselves by de- 16 battle of Kadesh. ) for Islam, there are two hitches: nying the faith, so long as they don’t really mean their DAR AL-HARB, JIHAD, & • If zealous, the Muslim is recantations; and the writ- continually at war (jihad) ings of eminent Muslim TAQIYAH with the unbeliever, the authority Al-Ghazali (d. Though we cannot do the topic infidel who refuses to 1111), who held that Mu- justice, I think it’s instructive submit to Allah; for him, hammad said it was ac-

52 ceptable to lie in three cir- to this last question is that the Endnotes cumstances: for reconcilia- limits are removed according to 1 , “To Consentius: 22 Against Lying,” A Select Library of the tion among people; in war; the exigency of the situation.” Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the and amongst spouses, to Christian Church, ed. Philip Schaff, 19 vol. 2 (Buffalo: The Christian Literature keep peace in the family.] To be sure, some Muslim writers Company, 1887), 495-497. insist that Islam honors just war 2 Robert Dodaro, “Lying and War,” under If you pair “lying in war is fine” principles, and of course some “Ethics” in Allan D. Fitzgerald, Augustine with “our dealings with unbe- Through the Ages: An Encyclopedia (Grand Muslim scholars and schools Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 328-329. lievers are perpetually a mat- fashion strictures of one sort 3 , “Question XL: Of ter of war” (and so, they don’t or another. They work from War,” Summa Theologica, Great Books of deserve the truth), you open the Western World, ed. Robert Maynard a verse in the Qur’an, 2:190: Hutchins, vol. 20 (Chicago: Encyclopedia the door for advantageous de- “Fight in the way of Allah those Britannica, 1952), 580-581. ception in virtually all of life. who fight you but do not trans- 4 David P. Gushee and Glen H. Stassen, And the nice distinction Bok Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in gress. Indeed, Allah does not Contemporary Context, 2nd ed. (Grand advances falls by the wayside: like transgressors.” A transgres- Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003, 2016), 303. sor of course is, by definition, 5 Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr., Bust Hell Wide Whenever it is right to Open: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest resist an assault or a one you fault. But how might (Washington, DC: Regnery, 2016), 69. threat by force, it must you identify one? Abu Bakr, 6 Mitcham, Jr., 77-78. then be allowable to do for one, drew the line against 7 Mary Katherine Barbier, D-Day mutilating dead bodies, killing Deception: Operation Fortitude and the so by guile. But the crite- Normandy Invasion (Mechanicsburg, PA: ria for who is to count as children, and destroying trees, Stackpole, 2007), 28, 77. 23 presenting such a threat among other things. But in- 8 Ben Macintyre, Operation Mincemeat: terpreters of the Qur’an and How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled must be publicly justi- the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory fiable. In this way, de- Hadith are, in effect, taking an (New York: Harmony Books, 2010), 120. ceiving a kidnapper can elaborate Rorschach test, seeing 9 James F. Dunnigan and Albert A. Nofi, what they’re inclined to see. Too Victory and Deceit: Dirty Tricks at War be distinguished from (New York: William Morrow, 1995), 164. deceiving adversaries in often the Qur’an is treated as 10 Joshua Rozenberg, “The perils of business.20 little more than a buffet line of perfidy in wartime,” The Telegraph, April cherries from which one may 3, 2003, telegraph.co.uk. None of this is to suggest that pick some and ignore others to 11 Quoted in Gregory M. Reichberg, Henrik Syse, and Endre Begby, The Ethics most Muslims assume this ag- fill his ideological plate. Thus, of War: Class and Contemporary Readings gressive, deceitful posture, any to claim that the treacherous (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006), 219-220. more than to suggest that most Muslims in Fallujah were not 12 Quoting from Reichberg, Syse, and who attend Christian church- “real Muslims” is more stipu- Begby, 458. es are faithful in stewardship, lative than descriptive. 13 Cited in John Fabian Witt, Lincoln’s Code: The of War in American History evangelism, and other hall- (New York: Free Press, 2012), 389. marks of discipleship. It does Be that as it may, there should 14 H. John Poole, Militant Tricks: say that the warrant to deceive be no doubt that, had Jerichite Battlefield Ruses of the Islamic Insurgent (Emerald Isle, NC: Posteriety Press, 2005), is present for Muslims who want Rahab not only lied to fellow 212, 223. to cut moral corners on integrity Jerichites but lured them into 15 Mitcham, 77. and mutuality. her home with poison-laced 16 Michael Dewar, The Art of Deception cake and watched in satisfaction in Warfare (Newton Abbot, UK: David & Charles, 1989), 26. But are there doctrinal limits as they fell to the floor in agony, 17 Sissela Bok, Lying: Moral Choice to this deception? Arguably, no. our Judeo-Christian alarm bells in Public and Private Life (New York: In Understanding Jihad, David would sound. Deception is one Vintage/Random House, 1978), 144. Cook cites Muhammed Khyar thing. Treachery is another. 18 “Top 35 Islamic Terms,” Kairos Journal, kairosjournal.org. Haykal, whose three-volume 19 Abdullah Al Araby, “Lying in Islam,” treatment of the subject touches Mark Coppenger is a profes- Islam Review, islamreview.com. on little-discussed issues such sor of Christian philosophy and 20 Bok, 144. as the role of women in jihad, ethics at The Southern Baptist 21 David Cook, Understanding Jihad the use of weapons of mass de- Theological Seminary, manag- (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015), 124. The Haykal book is Jihad and struction, and the matter of ing editor of the online Kairos Fighting according to the Shar`i Policy (al- surrender.21 His take: “What are Journal (providing articles for Jihad wa-l-Qital fi al-siyasa al-shara`iyya) the outer limits of the trickery the Nelson NKJV Unapologetic (Beirut: Dar al-Barayiq, 1993). and lying that the shari’a per- Study Bible), and author of 22 Cook, 126 23 Shiraz Maher, Salafi-Jihadism: The mits under these [war] circum- Moral Apologetics (B&H). He History of an Idea (Oxford: Oxford, 2016), stances? In general, the answer is a retired infantry officer. 46.

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