The Ruling on the Social Conventions Practiced Among People

We return to the letter of our sister (Maha A. Z.) from al-Rusafah, al-Azamiyyah, Baghdad. Our sister had previously presented five of her questions, and she has a set of other questions as well, starting with this one. She says: In some circumstances, social convention requires that we do not tell the truth. Is this considered a type of lying?
Answer: This requires detailed explanation: If the social convention results in denying a right or affirming a falsehood, then this social convention is not permissible. However, if the social convention does not result in anything, and it is merely pleasant speech that is general in nature, does not include testifying to a right for anyone, and does not assert a right for anyone, but is merely a social convention—such as saying a person is good, or so-and-so is fine, or so-and-so is such-and-such, while one does not know of anything to the contrary—then this social convention does not result in anything.