Dought & clear - Permissibility of Ambiguity and Definitionof Necessity.

When is deliberate ambiguity valid? If that is in cases of necessity
only, then what is the definition of necessity in this case?
Praise be to Allah.
The Arabic word tawriyah [translated here as deliberate ambiguity]
means to conceal something.
Allah says (interpretationof the meaning):
"Then Allah sent a crow who scratched the ground to show him how to
hide [yuwaari] the dead body of his brother. He (the murderer) said:
"Woe to me! Am I not even able to be as this crow and tohide the dead
body of my brother?" Then he became one of those who regretted" [5:31]
"O Children of Adam! We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover
yourselves (screen your private parts – yuwaari saw'aatikum) and as an
adornment; and the raiment of righteousness, that is better. Such are
among the Ayaat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs,
revelations, etc.) of Allaah, that they may remember (i.e. leave
falsehood and follow truth)"
[al-A'raaf 7:26]
With regard to the meaning in sharee'ah (religious) terminology, it
refers to someone who says something thatmay appear to have one
meaning to the listener but the speaker intends something different
thatmay be understood fromthese words. For example, he says, "I do not
have a dirham in my pocket," and that is understood to mean thathe
does not have any money at all, when whathe means is that he doesnot
have a dirham but he may have a dinar, for example. This is called
ambiguity or dissembling.
Deliberate ambiguity is regarded as a legitimate solution for avoiding
difficult situations that a person may find himself in when someone
asks him about something, and he does not want to tell the truth on
the one hand, and does not wantto lie, on the other.
Deliberate ambiguity is permissible if it is necessary or if it serves
ashar'i (religious) interest, but it is not appropriate to do it a
great deal so that it becomes a habit, or to use it to gain something
wrongfully or to deprivesomeone of his rights.
Al-Nawawi said:
The scholars said: If that is needed to serve some legitimate shar'i
interest that outweighs the concern about misleading the person towhom
you are speaking,or it is needed for a reason that cannot be achieved
without lying, then there is nothing wrong with using deliberate
ambiguity as an acceptable alternative. But if there is no interest to
be served and no pressing need, then it is makrooh (disliked), but is
not haram (impermissible). Ifit is a means of taking something
wrongfully ordepriving someone of their rights, then it is haram in
that case. This is the guideline in this matter. Al-Adhkaar.
Some scholars were of the view that it is haram to resort to
deliberate ambiguity if there is no reason or need to do so. This was
the view favoured by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have
mercy on him). See al-Ikhtiyaaraat.
There are situations in which the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) taught that we may use deliberate ambiguity, for
example:
If a man loses his wudoo(ablution) whilst prayingin congregation, what
should he do in this embarrassing situation?
The answer is that he should place his hand over his nose and leave.
The evidence for that is the report narrated from'Aishah (may Allah be
pleased with her) who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "If anyone of you breaks
hiswudoo whilst praying, let him hold his nose andleave." Sunan Abi
Dawood.
Al-Teebi said: The command to hold his nose is so that it will look as
if he has a nosebleed. This is not a lie, rather it is a kind of
ambiguity. This concession is granted so that the Shaytan will
nottrick him into staying put because of feeling embarrassed in front
of people.
Mirqaah al-Mafaateeh Sharh Mishkaat al-Masaabeeh.
This is a kind of ambiguity that is permitted, so as to avoidany
embarrassment and so that whoever sees him leaving will think that he
has a nosebleed.
Similarly If a Muslim faces a difficult situationwhere he needs to say
what is against the truthin order to protect himself or someone whois
innocent, or to save himself from serious trouble, is there a way for
him to escape the situation without lying or falling into sin?
Yes, there is a legal way and a permissible escapethat one can make
use of if necessary. It is equivocation or indirectness in speech.
Imam al-Bukhaari (may Allah have mercy on him) entitled a chapter of
his Saheeh: "Indirect speech is a safe way to avoid a lie". (Saheeh
al-Bukhari, Kitaab al-Adab (Book of Manners)).
Equivocation means saying something which has a closer meaning that
the hearer will understand, but it also has a remote meaning which
what is actually meant and is linguistically correct. Thecondition for
this is that whatever is said should not present a truth as falsity
and vice versa. The following are examples of such statements used by
the salaf (pious predecessors) and early imams (religious leaders),
and collected by Imam Ibn al-Qayyim in his book Ighaathat al-Lahfaan:
It was reported about Hammad (may Allah havemercy on him), if someone
came that he did not want to sit with, he would say as if in pain: "My
tooth, my tooth!" Then the boring person whom he did notlike would
leave him alone.
Imam Sufyan Al-Thawri was brought to the khaleefah al-Mahdi, wholiked
him, but when he wanted to leave, the khaleefah told him he had to
stay. Al-Thawri swore that he would come back. He then went out,
leaving his shoes at the door. After some time he came back,took his
shoes and went away. The khaleefah asked about him, and was told that
he had sworn to come back, so he had come back and taken his shoes.
Imam Ahmad was in his house, and some of his students, including
al-Mirwadhi, were with him. Someone came along, asking for al-Mirwadhi
from outside the house, but Imam Ahmad did not want him to go out, so
he said: "Al-Mirwadhi is not here, what would hebe doing here?" whilst
putting his finger in the palm of his other hand, and the person
outside could not see what he was doing.
Other examples of equivocation or indirectness in speech include the following:
If someone asks you whether you have seen so-and-so, and you are
afraid that if you tell the questioner about him this would lead to
harm, you can say "ma ra aytuhu", meaning that you have not cut his
lung, because this is a correct meaning in Arabic ["ma ra aytuhu"
usually means "I have not seen him," but can also mean "I have not cut
his lung"]; or you could deny having seen him, referring in your heart
to a specific time and place where you have not seen him. If someone
asks you to swear an oath that you will never speak to so-and-so, you
could say,"Wallaahi lan ukallumahu", meaning that you will not wound
him, because "kalam" can also mean "wound" in Arabic [as well as
"speech"]. Similarly, if a person is forced to utter words of kufr
(disbelief) and is told to deny Allah, it is permissible for him to
say "Kafartu bi'l-laahi", meaning "I denounce the playboy" [which
sounds the same as the phrase meaning "Ideny Allah."]
(Ighaathat al-Lahfaan byIbn al-Qayyim. See also the section on
equivocation (ma'aareed) in Al-Adaab al-Shar'iyyah by Ibn Muflih).
However, one should be cautious that the use of such statements is
restricted only to situations of great difficulty, otherwise:
Excessive use of it may lead to lying.
One may lose good friends, because they would always be in doubt as to
what is meant.
If the person to whom such a statement is givencomes to know that the
reality was different from what he was told, and he was not aware that
the person was engaging in deliberate ambiguity or equivocation, he
would consider that person to be a liar. This goes against the
principle of protecting one's honour by not giving people cause to
doubt one's integrity.
The person who uses such a technique frequently may become proud of
his ability to take advantage of people.
End quote. From Madha taf'al fi'l-haalaat al-aatiyah (What to do inthe
following situations)?
And Allah knows best.