Is it permissible to ask about an incident that did not occur in order to know the jurisprudential ruling?

Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: If one of the attendees asks the Shaykh a question and says, "So-and-so did such and such, or a man did such and such, or such and such happened, and what is the ruling?" Is this type of question valid? Knowing that the situation described in the question did not actually happen, and it may have been imaginary. In other words, does that count as lying, or is it permissible on the basis that the goal of the question is to know the precise ruling?

Answer:
This kind of lying is reporting something that did not happen as if it did. Lying is reporting something that did not occur as if it had occurred. For example, saying "So-and-so did such and such" when he did not do it, or "So-and-so came" when he did not come. That is lying. However, if he says, "If such and such happens, what is the ruling?" or "If such and such happens on the road, what do we do?" This is not lying.