notifications_active Weekly Meshkat-e Noor Session: Thursdays at 20:30 at Haj Reza Mosque
Supplementary question #3469: The car was in good working order, but to prevent this sin, they said, “My car has broken down.” Is this kind of lie permissible?
َّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ
A lie told for a good reason is permissible only when the person is knowledgeable and skilled in its use, and knows when to resort to it. If a lie is told to prevent a sin and there is no other way to do so, it is unobjectionable. Otherwise, resorting to it is not recommended.
A lie told for a greater good is like a surgeon’s knife. Only someone trained in surgery, with the requisite knowledge, care, skill and qualifications, should use it—and only when they know it is necessary. Just as surgery is not performed in every situation or on every patient, a problem cannot be solved by lying in every case we consider beneficial. We must carefully determine whether such a lie would truly serve a religious and otherworldly good.
If the lie is genuinely intended to prevent sin, and no alternative solution is available, then there is no objection to it.