A while ago, while I was on the road between Riyadh and Madinah, I witnessed a terrible accident between two cars, and I know the driver of one of these cars.

The questioner : He says in it: A while ago, while I was on the road between Riyadh and Madinah, I witnessed a terrible accident between two cars, and I know the driver of one of these cars, who passed away (may Allah have mercy on him). Shortly after, a relative of this person arrived, and after looking closely, he recognized the car and asked me: "Did its owner die?" I felt pity for him and said to him: "I do not know, nor do I know the car." He then swore me by the Great Allah to tell him the truth, but out of fear that he might suffer a similar accident as a result of the panic, I denied it. After some time, I inquired about this, and some said that I am sinful for hiding the truth, while others said that, if Allah wills, I will be rewarded because I reassured him so that he would reach his family. I am confused: is there a sin on me? And is there an expiation on me? We ask for guidance, may you be rewarded.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. It is obligatory for a person to be truthful in his speech and his actions, and to reveal the truth no matter what the situation is, except if he fears harm, in which case he may use figurative interpretation (ta'wil), intending in his heart the opposite of what his addressee understands. Accordingly, the answer to what the questioner said is that he is a person who exerted effort (ijtihad) and his intention is good and pure, but he is mistaken. When a person exerts effort and intends good, no sin will befall him because he did not intend to commit a sin. And Allah the Exalted said: So we reassure the brother that in this matter that happened to him, there is no sin on him because he did not intend to commit a sin. But I say, I advise him and tell him: do not return to such a thing, but tell the truth. If you fear that a danger will result from the truth, there is no harm in using figurative interpretation (ta'wil), meaning that you intend with your word what contradicts its apparent meaning, such that the addressee understands it in one sense while you intend another. For example, if someone says to you: "So-and-so has a deposit with you of such and such," and you fear that if you told him that so-and-so has a deposit of such and such with you, he would take advantage of so-and-so and wrong him, then you may use figurative interpretation (ta'wil) and say, for example: "By Allah, he has nothing with me." He will understand from you that "ma" is a negation, and the meaning is that he has nothing with you. But you intend that "ma" is a relative pronoun meaning "who," meaning you are saying: "By Allah, the one who has something with me is so-and-so," and that is the case. So the one who has something with you is so-and-so. This is figurative interpretation (ta'wil), and in figurative interpretation (ta'wil) there is a way out from lying. So if the man had come and asked you about this car and whether the one who was hit in the accident died, you could say: "By Allah, I do not know him," intending "I do not know him as a wretched person," or "I do not know him as a thief," or "I do not know him as one who does such and such." That is, you restrict your word to the actual reality that is true in light of your intention, even if he understands the opposite of this actual reality, because he will understand that your answer is according to what he asked. Yes.

The questioner : May Allah bless you. This listener is your brother in Allah, Abdullah Nasser from Jeddah, he says.