Wa alaykum assalam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh

 

In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Mercy-Giving

 

All praise is due to Allah, peace and blessings be upon His Messenger Muhammad.

 

Telling lies is totally prohibited. However, one may tell lies to reconcile people’s affairs and end disputes. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “A person who [lies] in order to conciliate between people is not a liar, when he conveys good [messages] or says [something] good.” (Bukhari and Muslim)

 

There are some scholars, however, who interpret this hadith to mean using figures of speech and double entendre, not sheer lying. Even if we go with the first interpretation, telling lies in this case involves the achievement of a great benefit and interest that outweighs the evil of telling lies.

 

In fact, usually telling lies in such situations of reconciling between disputing parties rarely involve any evil.

 

On the other hand, going to soothsayers can never be justified under any pretext. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade Muslims from going to the fortunetellers.

 

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whosoever goes to a soothsayer or fortuneteller and believes in him, he thus disbelieves in what is revealed upon Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).” [Ahmad]Therefore, one has to avoid going to fortunetellers, because this might lead to believing in them or supporting them in their falsehood. These soothsays and fortunetellers claim that they know of the realm of the Unseen, which is only know to Allah, the Exalted.

 

Almighty Allah knows best.