Thursday 6 Jumada al-ula 1446 - 7 November 2024
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Ruling on lying to gain entry to another country

Question

I have an interview in a foreign embassy, and I cannot travel unless I tell a lie which will not harm anyone, but it will benefit me, by saying that a friend invited me to visit him in this country after he visited me in my country. But in fact, I don’t have a friend there at all; I only want to travel. Is it permissible for me to lie in this case? If I get a job after I travel, will it be haram or not?

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

The basic principle is that lying is haram, is blameworthy and is not allowed apart from exceptional circumstances, which do not include your situation, because it has to do with the right of someone else, namely the state which has set out conditions for those to whom it will give permission to enter. Therefore it is not permissible to lie and use tricks to circumvent these conditions.

This is the basic principle, and there may be some cases in which an exception is made, which will have a fatwa applying specifically to them.

The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise. A man will continue to tell the truth until he becomes a speaker of truth. Lying leads to evildoing, and evildoing leads to Hell. A man will continue to tell lies until he is recorded with Allah as a liar.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (5629) and Muslim (4719).

And the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Scheming and deceit lead to the Fire.” Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in Shu‘ab al-Eemaan; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami‘, no. 6725. It was also narrated by al-Bukhaari in a mu‘allaq report in which he said: “Deceit leads to the Fire; whoever does an action that is not in accordance with this matter of ours will have it rejected.”

Secondly:

Whoever tells haram lies in order to enter a country, then finds a permissible job there, this work is not haram for him, unless the boss stipulated that the worker should have entered the country legally, in which case it is haram to deceive him and lie to him.

And Allah knows best.

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Source: Islam Q&A