Montaignean Taqiyya

Taqiyya is a term associated most often with Shi'ism, and essentially involves the exercise of prudence when it comes to the disclosure of one's religious identity or positions in an environment where such disclosure could endanger one's life, friends, family, livelihood, etc. Leo Strauss famously explored aspects of this topic in his little book Persecution and the Art of Writing. Strauss makes no mention of Montaigne, but his observation that persecution is a danger that is "coeval with philosophy" [Strauss, 21] should alert us to its threat where Montaigne was concerned. And, indeed, successive editions of the Essais conclusively demonstrate that Montaigne was sensitive to the dangers he incurred by publishing his candid thoughts, and also the extent to which he was willing to comply with the demands of ecclesiastical censorship.

Perhaps among the most poignant examples of Montaigne's sensitivity to this danger is the essay "Of Prayers" (Bk. I, Ch. LVI). Grace Norton commented on this essay thus:

It is an Essay not remarkable in thought or expression, but of great personal interest as showing (to my mind) the entire simplicity and sincerity of Montaigne's feeling about matters of religion. He writes as a respectful and obedient son of the Church, on a matter which lies not outside, but, one may say, beneath, the prescriptions of the Church,--a matter intimately concerning every human soul,--the meaning and use of Prayer.

Montaigne knew only too well that, as he famously quipped, though his knees were made for bending, the Church must be satisfied that his understanding was equally flexible. He chose to speak his mind with considerable candor, but always did so with the added caveat that he "set forth ideas which are human and my own, simply as human ideas, considered by themselves, and not as if decreed and ordained by divine edict, incapable of doubt or debate; matters of opinion, not matters of faith; what I judge from my own faculties, not what I believe from God..." ["Of Prayers"].

It was a strategy that worked, but I submit that it worked because Montaigne meant it in all sincerity. Montaigne had little difficulty with St. Paul's admonition to "pray without ceasing" [1 Thess. 5:17]--and he tells us that his favorite prayer was the Paternoster. He prayed not from a place of certainty, however, but from a place of doubt and desire.

Montaigne's taqiyya was an apt expression of his muridiyya.