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Is it permissible to lie to avert an assured dispute or to avoid anger or pain that would result from telling the truth, by analogy with the permissibility of lying to reconcile people?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Lying to avoid problems between people is permissible if it leads to a praiseworthy outcome that cannot be achieved otherwise, as narrated from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, concerning reconciling people, in war, and the حديث (narration) of a man speaking to his wife and a woman speaking to her husband. The verifying scholars have permitted it in everything that entails benefit without harm to others. Ibn al-Jawzi is of the view that it is permissible if the intention is permissible, and obligatory if the intention is obligatory. Ibn al-Qayyim holds that it is permissible for a person to lie to himself or others if it does not involve harm to others and leads to one's right.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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