The experience of physical and moral suffering made it possible to reach the state of faith where one accepts adversity, where one can doubt oneself without doubting God. In this respect, young Ammar’s story is edifying: he had seen his mother, then his father, being executed because they refuse to deny God. Then Ammar himself was tortured in the cruelest manner. One day while he was being tortured, unable to bear any more, he denied God and praised the gods of the Quraysh. His tormentors let him go, satisfied that they had achieved what they wanted. Ammar was alive, but he was besieged and undermined by a feeling of guilt he could not get rid of, as he was convinced that his denial could not be atoned for. He went to the Prophet in tears and confessed to him the cause of his misery and his doubts as to his own value and fate. The Prophet asked him about his innermost beliefs, and Ammar confirmed to him that they were unchanged, firm, and solid, and that he harboured no doubt as to his faith in God and his love. Muhammad calmed and reassured the young man, for he had done what he could and need not be angry with himself. Revelation even mentioned “one who, after accepting faith in God, utters unbelief… under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in faith.” He advised Ammar that if he ever again underwent the same unbearable torture, in order to save his life he should say with his lips what his torturers wanted to hear, keeping his faith and his prayers to God firmly in his heart.
Later on, Muslim scholars were to rely on this example, among others, in asserting that Muslims could, in an extreme situation where their lives were at risk at the hands of an unjust power, say with their lips what their torturers wanted to hear. This refers to the notion of taqiyyah (implying the act of dissimulating) and has been legitimated, as here in Ammar’s case, only when an individual has to save his or her life in an extreme situation involving unbearable torture. In any other situation, as we shall see, Muslims were to say the truth, whatever the price might be.
This was something new for me and I thought it would be good to share it with everyone here 
May Allah bless all of you.. Wassalam
Haslina
