The Islamic Personality by Sheikh Taqīuddīn An-Nabahānī

All lying is definitely haram due to a definite Qur’anic text, and its prohibition is among the rules known from the deen by necessity, without distinction as to whether it is for the benefit of Muslims or the interests of the deen or opposite to that. The texts came forbidding it generally, absolutely and without reasoning. Allah (swt) said:

And Allah (swt) said:

This decision, its absoluteness and generality cannot be reasoned, restricted or specified except by another text, and there is no entry for the mind except to understand the text and nothing else. There did not come in the Sahih any text which gives any reasoning or restriction, whether in the Book or Sunnah. As for specifying the text, there came a text regarding it which excluded from the forbidding of lying specific things which alone were specified; it is not allowed to exceed them in any case whatsoever. Nothing is excluded from the forbidding of lying except what was specified by evidence of the mentioned in the ahadith namely: the situation of war, to the woman and reconciling between two due to the text about them. Ahmad, Muslim and Abu Dawud narrated from Umm Kulthum bint ‘Uqbah who said:

From Asma bint Yazid who said: The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:

These three are of those excluded from the forbidding of lying by an authentic text, so lying is not allowed in other than that as nothing is excluded from the generality of the text except what the evidence specifies alone. The word “in war” which came in the hadith has only one meaning and no more which is the situation of active war in the matter of war, so lying is absolutely not allowed except in the situation of war. As for what is authenticated from the Prophet (saw)

The meaning is that when he intended a matter he would not show it, such as when he intended to fight towards the direction of the east he would ask about a matter in the direction of the west so that the one who heard and saw him would think that he intended the direction of the west. As for his saying clearly of his intending the west whereas his (true) intention was the east, this never occurred. So this is not informing contrary to the reality but was rather double- entendre (tawriyya). Moreover, it enters into active war, and the matter of war, since it is going to the battlefield to fight the enemy actively so it is deceit which came in his (saw) statement:

As for what was narrated by Jabir that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said:

This was also in the situation of war. Even if the words of the hadith state that the words which Muhammad bin Maslamah said were true, not false, as it was only allusion but Muhammad bin Maslamah asked permission to say everything and it was permitted to him. So it enters within it the permission to lie explicitly and metaphorically, and it enters into the situation of war. As for what Ahmad and An-Nisai narrated from the tale of Al-Hajjaj bin ‘Ilat in his seeking permission to say about him whatever he wished for his benefit in rescuing his property from the people of Makkah. The Prophet (saw) gave him permission and he informed the people of Makkah that Khayber had defeated the Muslims; this also enters into the situation of war because the people of Makkah were in a situation of active war with the Muslims. Al-Hajjaj bin ‘Ilat was from the Muslims and he was going to the enemy disbelievers who were in the situation of active war, so lying was allowed against them. The permission of lying is not restricted to the battlefield nor to fighters; rather it is allowed for the Muslims to lie against their enemies, the disbelievers, if they are in the situation of active war with them. As for was extracted by At-Tabarani in Al-Awsat:

This is in Al-Bazzar with the words:

It was said in Majmu’ Al-Zawaid: In its chain is Rushdayn and Abdurrahman bin Ziyad bin An’am, and both are weak so it is a weak hadith which is rejected and not used as a proof. So it is not suitable as evidence.

Accordingly all lying is haram and not allowed except in three (matters): in war, reconciling between people, and the story of the man to his wife and the story of the woman to her husband. Everything else is definitely haram as the forbiddance of lying came generally in the Qur’an covering all lying, then the hadith came specifying it in other than war, reconciling between people, and the story of the man to his wife and the story of the woman to her husband. It excluded these three from the forbidding so they alone are allowed and everything else is haram. Particularly since the hadith restricted the permissibility to three and said:

And

Etc. This restriction means all other is haram. All the ahadith which came are in the situation of active war; all ahadith other than them are weak and are not used as proof (s)

As for dissimulation/double entendre in other than war, if the listener understands it contrary to the reality such as where the word does not indicate the reality and something else linguistically or in technical usage generally with the speaker and listener, it is lying which is not allowed. Such as where a specific group gives a technical definition for a word and then say it to someone who does not know this technical definition or where it is a technical definition for a speaker but the listener does not know it, all of this is lying which is not allowed. Even if it were dissimulation/double entendre by the speaker but the listener understands from the word the opposite to the reality, so it is not considered from the type of double entendre (tawriyya) and is not allowed. As for where it is understood from the word is the reality and something else, this is from the species of eloquence (balagha). It is truth and not lying like their saying to the squint eyed: ‘If only both his eyes were equal’, it is suitable as an invocation for or against him. Dissimulation is that the word has two meanings, one which is near and the other remote; the speaker intends the remote meaning while the listener understands (it as) the near meaning. In this situation, even though the listener understands contrary to what the speaker intends nevertheless he does not understand contrary to the reality indicated by the sentence. The Prophet (saw) used dissimulation. In Sahih Al-Bukhari that Anas bin Malik (ra) said: