Lying is not allowed except when necessary, like the 3 circumstances mentioned in the hadith, one of the three circumstances is lying to your spouse, and this is allowed between the married couple. For example when he or she says to the other I love you, when in reality she or he doesn’t, or when she asks for something from him and he cannot bring it for her, but he still says I will bring it for you, and this is just to please her and make her happy.

It is mentioned in Ihyaa’ Uloom al Deen, by Imam Al-Ghazali (Volume 3, page 120) that ibn Abi Adhra Aduali swore to his wife to show him whether she loved him or not, so she told him she does not love him, so they argued and went to the leader of the Believers, Umar bin Al Khattab, RA so he asked her: Did you say you hate your husband? she said: Yes, because he made me swear to Allah, should I lie oh Emir of the believers? He said: Yes, Lie to him, for if one of you doesn’t love the other then do not tell them that, few houses are built on love.

Al Qurtubi mentioned in his Tafseer (Volume 5 Page 209) the story of Abdullah bin Rawaha who lied to his wife when he saw her carrying a knife to stab him, as she saw him having intercourse with his maid servant. He read some poetry and told her it was Quran, and the impure person cannot read the Quran, when the Prophet heard of this he laughed so hard you could see his back molars. Ibn Al Qayyim also mentioned this story in his book “ighatha al lahfan page 208, 257”.

From this we learn that lying between the spouses is very limited, only in what strengthens the relationship between them, and maintains stability in the family. As for lying about matters that threaten the unity of the family, such as when a husband or wife stays away from home claims it happens due to work, while he or she is a having unlawful affair outside the marriage. This type of lie is definitely prohibited. For the sake of this and the likes Islam encourages to give importance to the religious devotion in both the woman and the man when it comes to searching for marriage, and the texts about this are known.