Pirated Software
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa
Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be
upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
Aa
wht is the islaamic ruling on using pirated sorftware on the computer?
eg using illegal programs of microsoft word etc..
Wassalaam..
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
Pirated Software
In the name of Allah, We praise
Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can
misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear
witness that there is no one (no idol,
no person, no grave, no
prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone,
and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of
His Messengers.
Islam and the Shariah protects the rights of the
person who develops or invents a product and his right to benefit from that
product in a just way. If some person
or company has strived to invent something, then it is their right to market
and benefit from that product. If someone steals that product and uses it without the permission
of the company or person who invented it, then it would be deemed illegal in
Islamic Law.
In a just Islamic State, it
would be the responsibility of the authorities to check and regulate the
benefits that a person makes from his product; where he would not be allowed to
monopolize his product in such a way that he does not permit others to develop
a competing product; nor would he be allowed to over-charge and take undue
advantage of the users.
Whatever written of Truth and
benefit is only due to Allahs Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error
is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He
is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in Islam,
Wister