Hadithcore
Sahih al-Bukhari, 3029
sahih

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) called,: "War is deceit".

حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَصْرَمَ، أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ، أَخْبَرَنَا مَعْمَرٌ، عَنْ هَمَّامِ بْنِ مُنَبِّهٍ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ قَالَ سَمَّى النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم الْحَرْبَ خُدْعَةً‏.‏

References2 variants
In-Book Reference
Book 56, Hadith 236
USC-MSA web (English) reference
Vol. 4, Book 52, Hadith 268 (deprecated numbering scheme)
Sharh · explanationclick to expand
A person may be allowed to do at a time of war what isn’t generally allowed in other situations, including: resorting to deceit, meaning Tawriyyah (i.e., indirect speech; when a speaker says something that has an apparent meaning that the listener would understand, and another hidden meaning, and the speaker’s intention is this hidden meaning, except that he concealed it with that apparent and immediate meaning that first comes to the listener’s mind) and lying, if needed, because war is deceit, as the Prophet ﷺ described it,as narrated by AbooHurayrah(may Allah be pleased with him). It was also said that it is allowable to resort to deceit at times of war whenever possible, to realize significant benefits for Muslims. When Muslims exhaust all means of deceit at times of war, they should then opt for fighting. It was also said that when one is deceived once at time of war, it incurs his destruction for good, and there is no way back from it. It is deduced from the hadeeth that it is allowable for a Muslim to tell a lie and speak contrary to the truth to display strength and motivate his fellows with the aim of demoralizing the enemy or lie to their enemies to deceive them. It was narrated on the authority of Asmaa’ bintYazeed(may Allah be pleased with her)that the Prophet ﷺ said: “It is not lawful to lie except in three cases: a man tells his wife something (untrue) to please her, to lie during war, and to lie in order to bring peace between disputing people.”.
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