Question 5 If you hide your belief and declare to believe in...

Question 5 If you hide your belief and declare to believe in some anti-Islamic tenets, won’t you automatically go outside the pale of Islam and became a “ Kafir ”? Belief and faith as well as the disbelief or rejection of faith (in short, Iman and Kufr ) are basically the matters of "heart".

That is why Allah rebuked those newly-converted Arabs who claimed to be `Believers': The desert Arabs-say: "We believe" : Say (unto them): "You believed not; rather say "we accepted Islam" because the Faith has not yet entered your hearts ".

[^5] The declaration by tongue has a very minor role in it., A belief without declaration is acceptable but a declaration without belief is condemned in the Qur’an in severest terms: When come unto thee the hypocrites, they say: "We bear witness that verily you are the Messenger of Allah"; and verily Allah knows that you are certainly this Messenger; and verily Allah bears witness that the hypocrites are certainly the liars.

[^6] Now remember that the life of a Muslim is very precious in the eyes of Islam. The importance attached to even one life is seen in this verse: And he who saves it (i.e., a human life) shall be as though he has saved the whole mankind. [^7] And a Muslim is bound to save a life from unlawful destruction, whether it is some one else's or his own: And cast not yourselves with your own hands into perdition .

[^8] It is for this reason that suicide has been declared a capital sin just like murder; and it is for this reason that Shi'a Shari`ah does not allow starting a jihad (war) without permission of the Prophet, Imam or their especially appointed deputies or in defense. And it is to save the life of a believer that one is allowed to utter a lie and save that precious life. Question 6 All Right. You saved a life; but you committed one of the greatest sins, i.e., lie.

So, spiritually you are doomed to disgrace in either case. Then, why not tell the truth and let the enemies kill you if they want? When a person is in such a situation that no matter whichever course of action he chooses he has to commit an evil, then the reason says that he should select the lesser evil. Or if he is forced to destroy or damage one of his two possessions, then surely he would damage or destroy the less-expensive item to save the more precious one.