A form of religious dissimulation whereby a Muslim can deny his faith or commit otherwise illegal or blasphemous acts while they are at risk of significant persecution. It is explicitly supported by Qur'anic verses that instruct Muslims not to "take for friends or helpers Unbelievers rather than believers... except by way of precaution," and to not utter unbelief "except [while] under compulsion". Critics of Islam often conflate the doctrine of taqiyyah with that of lying in general, mislabelling all forms of lying as an example of "taqiyya". However, taqiyya is only a single aspect of lying within Islam, not the entirety of the subject itself.