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Analysis Of Lying Being Prohibited
First of all- what type of lying is haraam?
Eg lying to a question like ‘how are you today?’
Eg lies of omission
EG lies on technicality ‘is he with you?’ ‘no’ (because he’s not married to me) or ‘is he here’ ‘no he’s not here’ (you point to your palm)
Then what about lying to parents about exam marks? What would the illat of this hurmat be? I am not taking anyone’s rights, or harming anyone.
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13 Replies
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Analysis Of Lying Being Prohibited
updated 6 months, 2 weeks ago
6 Members
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13
Replies
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Please also see: Discussion 32567
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Assalamualaikum,
This question is very relatable – In fact this discussion is based on something I asked Ahmad. I hope that sharing the context will help you provide an answer.
I have recently completed exams which I have received results for 5/9 of them (ones which my Pakistani parents would be very angry with me for – I did try hard in them, but they won’t understand like always ). I will get the rest of the results tomorrow and day after (I need lots of your duas !).
I did not want to tell them because I wanted to relax last week and not sit in shame in front of a textbook. So I hid my results from them. They would always ask “When are your results coming?” and I would say “After half-term holidays” – which is not false as the 4 of my teachers have said this. Now the teachers are going to send a report on Friday with all of the results and teacher comments etc. My question is, did I do anything wrong? Is it to do with my intention? I plan to tell them first thing when I get back tomorrow. Jazakhallah in advance and sorry for not studying hard enough
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As a matter of principle, lying is immoral, and one should refrain from it. Of course there can be exceptions but from personal experience they’re extremely rare.
In the case you described above, I think it’s just a matter of being able to communicate your point clearly with your parents. It’s not that they want your life to be miserable, in fact quite the opposite. If I was in your shoes (and I have been many times), I would sit down with my parents and calmly explain the whole situation to them. I would also reassure them that I am trying to do my best, but here are a couple of things that I plan to do differently in the future to be even better. I would also genuinely ask their advice, request them to make dua, and call it a day.
Majority of the times, there are much more effective options available, but we resort to lying because it’s the easiest. When in reality, lying should be treated as a last resort, with a conscious understanding that we’ll have to justify it in front of God on the day of judgement.
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But sir, under what principle is lying in general haraam? If it is a full prohibition what about lying to someone asking about how you are? (By saying I’m good even if you are not). Why is lying, in and in of itself, an immoral action. We find the illah of most sins such as eating haraam meat or zina- what is it when it comes to lying?
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When we habitually lie in order to avoid difficult situations, we actually deceive our own selves without realizing it. In a very short order we end up damaging our own personalities and our lives ahead of us. Quran terms lying as a disease that results in a grievous suffering. For habitual liars, this suffering prevails not only in the hereafter, but a lot of times in this life as well.
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So it is the deception that betrays the trust of others that is the illah. Makes sense.
But of course the ‘how are you?’ ‘I am good thing’ is just a societal convention you could say
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When we say “I’m good”, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re thriving and feel on top of the world. Internally we could be facing some challenges or difficulties, but from the perspective of a stranger/acquaintance, we’re doing fine because our internal challenges do not concern him/her.
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@faisalharoon Thank you for your advice, inshallah it will be the first thing I do coming back from school. Very reassuring to know that even a smart and knowledgeable man such as yourself has been in my shoes!
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And sir, is it possible to lie for a good deed? Like Hazrat Yusuf hid a cup in his brother’s luggage which he did not steal????
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*i mean permissible
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I don’t recall that Yusuf AS lied at any point. Also in Quran 12:76 God says that it is His plan that Yusuf AS was carrying out.
Quran 12:76-77
Translation by Asad
Thereupon [they were brought before Joseph to be searched; and] he began with the bags of his half-brothers before the bag of his brother [Benjamin]: and in the end he brought forth the drinking Cups out of his brother’s bag. In this way did We contrive for Joseph [the attainment of his heart’s desire]: under the King’s law, he would [otherwise] not have been able to detain his brother, had not God so willed. We do raise to [high] degrees [of knowledge] whomever We will – but above everyone who is endowed with knowledge there is One who knows all. [As soon as the cup came to light out of Benjamin’s bag, the brothers] exclaimed: “If he has stolen-well, a brother of his used to steal afore-time!” Thereupon Joseph said to himself, without revealing his thought to them: “You are far worse in this respect, and God is fully aware of what you are saying.
We can’t make a general statement that it’s permissible to lie for a good deed. We must judge every situation on it’s own, and with the realization that one day we shall be held accountable for all our deeds, decide whether we will be able to justify our lie in a given situation in front of God. There are situations where lying becomes imperative, however, those situations are very rare in anyone’s life. Majority of the times we lie only to take the easy way out.
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so sir doing Tawhria (unequivocality) without any justified reason would be Haram too? like if someone doing it not with the intention of usurping any kind of right but also there’s no such need or majboori as well to do tawriyah, then in such case would tawriyah is allowed?
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It falls within grey area and the matters falling in grey areas depend on personal inclination of the person, they cannot be regarded as outright Haram. However it is recommended to not employ this tactic needlessly.
Please see for discussion on Tawriah:
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