Former Kuwaiti Minister of Information Sami Abdullatif Al-Nesf was interviewed on BBC Arabic on July 27, 2018. He said that one of the “chronic and hereditary diseases” from which Arab societies suffer “is that we have no problem with lies, deceit, and the use of falsification and fake media.”
Comparing Arab culture to Western culture, where leaders are ousted for lying and dishonesty ruins relationships, he stressed that the Arab media are not to blame for this ”sorry state of affairs,” since they are merely a reflection of a culture which “often does not include an aspiration to sincerity or professionalism.”
Watch him speaking at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtn0rtg_GY8&feature=youtu.be
For non-Muslims dealing with Muslims, the problem is worse. Islam has a doctrine of TAQIYYA – permissible or even obligatory lying, if the purpose is to protect or advance the cause of Islam. There is absolutely no recognition in Islam of Jesus’s words in Matthew 5:37 : “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”