Is one sinful if compelled—by severe threats that may amount to killing or harming his family—to speak falsehood to others, leading to people being led astray from the truth and diverted to accept falsehood in matters related to the fundamentals of religion, or to support oppressors while knowing their injustice, and he is aware of truth and falsehood, yet he is not a scholar, a preacher, or a famous personality?

The duress considered [valid] varies according to the state of the one who inflicts duress (the duressor), the one on whom duress is inflicted (the duressed), and the matter concerning which duress is inflicted. So, duress concerning a word of disbelief differs from duress concerning an innovative saying, and what is less than them both. Ibn Taymiyyah mentioned that duress varies according to the matter concerning which duress is inflicted, and that duress concerning disbelief can only be by means of torture, such as beating and shackling, and that mere words do not constitute duress.