and from the Sunnah:
In al-Bukhārī (234) and Muslim (58) it is narrated from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Four traits, whoever possesses them is a pure hypocrite,” and he mentioned among them: “When he speaks, he lies.”
Al-Bukhārī (6094) and Muslim (2607) likewise record, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Falsehood leads to wickedness, and wickedness leads to the Fire. A man continues to lie and deliberately pursue falsehood until he is written with Allah as a liar.”
- Al-Nawawī said: Know that lying, although originally forbidden, is permissible in certain circumstances:
• For every praiseworthy aim that can be achieved without lying, it is unlawful to lie.
• If that aim cannot be achieved except through lying, then lying is permissible.
• If the aim sought is merely permissible, the lying is likewise permissible.
• If attaining the aim is obligatory, the lying becomes obligatory.
Thus, if a Muslim is hiding from an oppressor who wants to kill him or seize his property, and someone is asked about him, it is obligatory to lie in order to conceal him. The same ruling applies to a trust that has been hidden from an oppressor. The safer course, however, is tawriya (equivocation): the speaker intends by his words a sound meaning, so that with respect to that intended meaning he is not lying, even though, in outward wording and in what the listener understands, he appears to be lying.
The evidence for this is the report in al-Bukhārī (2692) and Muslim (2605) from Umm Kulthūm, who said she heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declare, “He is not a liar who reconciles between people, conveying good or saying good.” Muslim also relates her words: “I never heard him permit lying except in three cases: during war, in making peace between people, and in the conversation of a man with his wife—or a wife with her husband.”
Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ said: There is no disagreement concerning the permissibility of lying in these three matters.