Yesterday (2/14/11) Sean Hannity asked about Koran sanctioned lying/ dissimulation (or "taqiyya") during a debate between Robert Spencer and Michael Ghouse.Spencer appropriately cited Koran 3:28, and alluded to one classical Koranic commentary on this verse. Below are two translations of Koran 3:28 and its mainstream exegesis or interpretation from classical works of "tafsir" or Koranic commentary by renowned Muslim commentators. They provide a remarkably consistent millennial long continuum of interpretation dating from Tabari (d. 923) the greatest early commentator, through two luminaries of the 14th and early 16th centuries, Ibn Kathir, and Suyuti, respectively, concluding with the late Grand Mufti of Pakistan,  Maulana Mufti Muhammad Shafi (1898-1976)-the most important modern Koranic commentator in Urdu.[Pickthall] Let not the believers take disbelievers for their friends in preference to believers. Whoso doeth that hath no connection with Allah unless...(Read Full Post)