A hadith has Muhammad granting permission to lie “in battle, for bringing reconciliation amongst persons and the narration of the words of the husband to his wife, and the narration of the words of a wife to her husband (in a twisted form in order to bring reconciliation between them).” (Muslim 6303)
In this case, the permission to lie “in battle” is what is operative: Bilal Abood is lying to the enemy in wartime.
“Mesquite man who pledged allegiance to ISIS sentenced to 4 years in prison,” by Kevin Krause, Dallas Morning News, May 25, 2016:
A Mesquite man who lied to the FBI about pledging allegiance to an Islamic State terrorist leader was sentenced Wednesday to four years in federal prison.
Bilal Abood, 38, a former U.S. military translator, admitted he lied to the FBI about traveling to Syria and sending a tweet pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State, or ISIS.
The only question for U. S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade on Wednesday was whether Abood’s motive was terrorism.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Penley argued that it was and asked for the maximum of eight years. He has said in court filings that Abood’s real reason for trying to travel abroad was to wage jihad and die a martyr.
Kinkeade said Abood made “abominable” comments in his tweets. But he agreed with his defense attorney that there was no evidence suggesting Abood was planning a terrorist attack.
The judge called Abood a “goofball” and an “odd character” who did some stupid things. But he said he thinks Abood is a “misguided kind of fellow who’s not going to act on things.”
Tweets and insults
Abood, 38, pleaded guilty in October to one count of making a false statement to a federal agency.
Abood told Kinkeade on Wednesday that he copied and pasted other people’s tweets to join online insults between the Sunni and Shia, Islam’s two largest groups. Abood, an Iraqi-born Sunni who is now an American citizen, said his tweets were intended to “piss off” the Shia posters.
“Sir, I love my country,” he told the judge. “I did more than a lot of people who live here.”
Abood’s attorney, Heath Hyde, said his client will probably get out of prison after serving about two years since Kinkeade gave him credit for the 14 months he’s already spent behind bars since his arrest.
Testimony on Wednesday revealed that the FBI initially considered hiring Abood to provide them with intelligence about what was going on in Syria. But an agent testified that after evaluating Abood, they determined he was not trustworthy and posed a threat.
The agent said Abood showed a pattern of deceit the entire time he’s known him….
“War is deceit,” said Muhammad (Bukhari 52.269).