Is lying ever permitted? 507 - 2 - 2

Honest people are not supposed to lie. For Christians and Jews, the prohibition is one of the 10 Commandments. Nevertheless and in my opinion, there are times when it is very justified. This most certainly was true in the case of the Righteous Among the Nations, individuals who kept Jews alive though the horror of the Holocaust/

The people of Israel call those who aided Jews during World War II Righteous Among the Nations. They are recognized by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem. “These people risked their lives or their liberty and position to help Jews during the Holocaust; some suffered death as a result. As of 1 January 2016, Yad Vashem recognized 26,120 Righteous Among the Nations from 51 countries.”

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Righteous_Among_the_Nations_by_country]

Irena Sendlerowa saved 2,500 ghetto children and was nominated for the Nobel peace prize.

[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/15/secondworldwar.poland]

Oskar Schindler profiled in the movie Schindler’s List keep nearly a thousand Jews from the gas chamber. Per the plot of the movie, Schindler used great deception with the Nazis to save his Jewish workers. He had a munitions plant and was supposedly using Jewish slave labor to produce weapons of war.  Schindler kept his group together including the children. Schindler made sure that what was produced was defective and instead bought the munitions he supplied the Nazis from other sources.

The Jewish Inscription on Schindler’s ring given to him by the Jews at Brunnlitz reads, "He who saves a single soul, saves the world entire"

Oskar Schindler died on 9 October 1974 in Hildesheim, Germany. He was buried in the Catholic Churchyard on Mount Zion, Jerusalem.

 [http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/survivor/schindler.html]

Corrie ten Boom and her family hid many Jews in Holland. Eventually her family was arrested and sent to concentration camps. Corrie survived the camps and at the age 53, began “a world-wide ministry which took her into more than 60 countries in the next 33 years! She testified to God’s love and encouraged all she met with the message that Jesus is Victor."

[https://www.corrietenboom.com/old/history.htm]

Marion Pritchard Saved 150 children By Pretending To Be A Single Mom During WWII

[http://allteresting.com/heroic-girl-saved-150-lives-by-pretending-to-be-a-single-mom-during-wwii/]

These are just a few examples of the Righteous Among the Nations who practiced deceit and saved the lives of thousands of Jews.

As an aside, does Islam permit Muslims to lie?

Muslim scholars teach that Muslims should generally be truthful to each other, unless the purpose of lying is to "smooth over differences."

“There are several forms of lying to non-believers that are permitted under certain circumstances, the best-known being taqiyya. These circumstances are typically those that advance the cause of Islam - in some cases by gaining the trust of non-believers in order to draw out their vulnerability and defeat them.”

Quran (16:106) - Establishes that there are circumstances that can "compel" a Muslim to tell a lie.

[http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/quran/taqiyya.aspx]

So in Islam lying in the furtherance of the Islam is acceptable. Perhaps the biggest lie is by those not of the Islamic faith who claim that Islam is a religion of peace.