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 Allah’s 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,

Burhan