Is what the monk told the boy in the story of the People of the Ditch: "If your family asks you, tell them: 'I was delayed at the sorcerer's,' and if the sorcerer asks you, tell him: 'I was delayed at my family's'" considered a lie, or does it have a legal basis?

Lying is forbidden and among the vilest of sins. However, the Lawgiver has permitted it in situations where a benefit cannot be achieved or a harm repelled except through it. Scholars have inferred that if lying leads to repelling a greater harm or bringing about a greater benefit, it becomes permissible. Imam Al-Ghazali explained that lying is forbidden if the objective can be achieved through truthfulness, but it is permissible or obligatory if the objective cannot be achieved except through it, and the objective itself is permissible or obligatory. The precaution in such cases is to use equivocation (tawriya). Accordingly, achieving the religious benefit for the monk and the boy necessitated the boy's lying so that he could learn without harm. However, whoever can dispense with lying by using equivocation and allusions should avoid lying.