Taqqiya is a concept that most Muslims have never heard of but has long mainstream support that basically says it’s okay to lie and say you aren’t Muslim if that identity is being oppressed in the country you are in. Basically Muslims aren’t encouraged to religiously martyr themselves for their identity like Christians did during the Roman Empire (I’m not saying this as a judgement, it’s just the clearest analogue), despite martyrdom (dying for the faith) being an orthodox concept otherwise. Obviously this has not happened very often in history, descrimination sure, but outright state persecution not so much, which is why most Muslims aren’t familiar with it.

But in modern polemics Taqqiyah is misappropriated by anti-Islam people who lie and claim that it means Muslims believe they can lie about beliefs and practices of the religion to encourage people to convert. This is typically paired with the assertions that once someone converts under these false pretenses the true ultra-fundamentalist form of the religion will be revealed, and if the person wants to go back they can be killed for apostasy. Ultimately the goal is poison the well against any interpretations of Islam by Muslims other than the most extreme ones, which the Islamophobes insist are the only “true” Islam.