There are three occasions when a Muslim is permitted to lie:
1) To keep his wife happy
2) To reconcile warring parties: say that Ahmad and Mahmood
are fighting, you can go to one and say that the other is really sorry
about what happened and that he wants to talk. Then you can go to the
other and say the same thing. The aim is reconciliation.
3) To
advance Islam: you may lie to gain an advantage for Islam over other
religions. Thus you might make false claims to the press about the
goals or nature of Islam, or regarding weapons or military questions.
Am working on this topic. It is called taqiyyi in Islamic jurisprudence, and I hope to write a longer article on the topic in the near future. The approach is considerably different than that taught by Jesus Christ, which insists on honesty at all times.
