Copyright
Islam & Copyright
The council of scholars known as Majma' al-Fiqh al-Islaamee issued the following fatwaa in their fifth session in Kuwait, December 10-15, 1988: "After reading the research papers prepared by its members and experts on the subject of intellectual property rights and after hearing the discussions of the issue, the Council affirmed the following: 'Trade names, logos, trademarks, authorship, inventions and designs are the rights of their owners. These things have acquired commercial value in the modern business environment because people make money from them. The Sharee'ah recognizes such rights, so they should not be violated.' " (Al-Fiqh al-Islami wa Adillatuh, Wahbah Al-Zuhayli, 7:5160)
A Word From Me
I strongly believe in supporting Muslim writers and enterprises. A great deal of effort goes into the research, writing, editing, designing and printing of Islamic literature. If we pirate or distribute unauthorised copies of such books, we are depriving the people who help to make such works possible of their income and benefits of their labour.
Let us not scoff at this and make remarks like, "Their reward lies with Allah and not our money", which I have heard so often. Yes, in shaa Allah they will be amply rewarded for their intentions and deeds. However, without the necessary income and capital, they would find it hard to continue producing good books. I have included only material that, to the best of my knowledge, are copyright free. If, however, I have erred and placed any copyrighted material here for download, do inform me (kindly, please!) and I will remove them immediately with apologies.
As to this site, it is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Any organisation or individual wishing to reprint or copy the contents of this website may do so as long as the information is kept in its original form, names of all authors and sources are kept intact and articles are used for non-malicious purposes. All I ask is that you remember why I started this site - please acknowledge and include a link back to this site.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.