What's your opinion on illegal downloading? A few weeks ago someone asked this on the Radio, to which both me and brother Malaz were stumbling upon..
Consider this as well. Wouldn't YouTube be considered illegal too, then? So many movies, episodes, CNN clips, and what have you... Being uploaded and watched by MILLIONS illegally.
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
For good things : (educational software ,books etc)
If you can't afford it and if it is necessary.. i mean you can;t help it these days every company expects you to get familiar with 3-D software which cost something like 1500$ to buy :P. There you are helpless.
For bad things : (movies , songs etc )
Its immaterial to dicuss since its like discussing if killing a man with knife is better or with gun is better :P.
Generally speaking though we should try to follow the law where ever possible.( where ever it is completely avoidable). Since we need to be good citizens to be good muslims.
( note: I accept that i do some illegal dloading too )
Q.What do the Muslim fuqaha’ say about intellectual property rights such as trade names, trademarks, copyright and patents?
A.Firstly:
Trade names, trademarks, copyright and patents are all rights which belong exclusively to their owners. In modern times they have come to have a considerable financial value. These rights are recognized according to sharee’ah, and they should not be violated.
Secondly:
It is permissible to buy or sell a trade name or a trademark, and to transfer any of them in return for monetary compensation, so long as there is no cheating or deception.
Thirdly:
Copyright and patents are protected by sharee’ah. Their owners have the right to buy or sell them and nobody has the right to violate these rights. And Allaah knows best.
Qaraar Majlis al-Fiqh al-Islami al-Khaamis, 1409 AH
And verily for everything that a slave loses there is a substitute, but the one who loses Allah will never find anything to replace Him.” [Related by Ibn al-Qayyim in ad-Dâ' wad-Dawâ Fasl 49]
Q.I have a website that has programs on it. Alhamdulillah, I removed the cracks and serials of these programs. But I have a forum, and members of this forum put the cracks and serials of the programs on it. It is really tiring to keep following to delete them, I cannot do this. Will I be sinful if I leave this matter up to the members? Is it adequate to put a title saying “It is not permissible to put any cracks or serials on the forum, and he alone will be sinful who does this”?.
A.Praise be to Allaah.
The ruling on putting the cracks and serials on the web page is based on the ruling on copying the program itself. If it is permissible to copy the program then it is permissible to put its crack on the web page, and if it is forbidden to copy the program then it is forbidden to put its crack or serial on the web page.
We have discussed the ruling on copying programs in previous answers. There follows a summary of what we have said.
Firstly:
If the owners and inventors of the program have stated that it is copyrighted, and that is not permitted to make copies of it for personal or public use, then the basic principle is that this condition of theirs should be fulfilled, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The Muslims are bound by their conditions.” And he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever reaches a permissible thing (that is permissible to anyone) first is more entitled to it.” This is what was quoted as evidence by Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) in his fatwa with the Standing Committee. See Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (13/188).
This is supported by the fact that copyright of writings, inventions and products, and other tangible and intangible rights, are guaranteed and it is not permissible to transgress against them without the permission of the owners. That includes tapes, disks and books.
Undoubtedly those who produce tapes and disks have put time, effort and money into producing them, and there is nothing in sharee’ah to prevent them from taking the profit that results from this work. The one who transgresses against their rights is wronging them and consuming their wealth unlawfully.
Moreover, if it were permitted to transgress against these rights, these companies would stop producing and inventing things because it would bring them no profit, and they may end up being unable to pay their employees. Undoubtedly if this work were to cease, people would be deprived of a lot of good, so it is appropriate that the scholars have issued fatwas stating that it is haraam to transgress against these rights.
Secondly:
If there is no statement that it is not allowed to make personal copies, then it is permissible to make copies for personal use, but not for profit.
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen said concerning this issue:
This should be dealt with according to custom. If a person wants to make a copy for himself and the one who initially wrote it did not state that it is not allowed to make personal or public copies, then I hope that there is nothing wrong with that. But if the person who initially wrote it stated that it is not permitted to make personal or public copies, then it is not permissible at all. End quote.
Thirdly:
What we have mentioned in either case is the general ruling with regard to principles. But there may be some cases in which it is permissible to make copies without permission of the owners. That applies in two cases:
1 – If it is not available in the marketplace and one needs it, and the copies are for personal use or charitable distribution, and they not going to be sold or profited from.
2 – If there is a great need for it and the owners are demanding more for it than it is worth, and they have already made enough money to cover their costs with a reasonable amount of profit, and that is something to be decided by experts. In that case it is permissible to copy it for personal use, not with the aim of selling it.
3 – If it belongs to someone who is not protected by sharee’ah, then there is nothing wrong with copying it. The one who is protected by sharee’ah is the Muslim or dhimmi (non-Muslim living under Muslim rule) or musta’min (the one who been granted safety by the Muslim ruler), in contrast to the harbi (non-Muslim who is in a state of war against Islam).
Based on that, if copying something is forbidden, then you must prevent the members of the forum from posting links to download it or download its cracks and serials; it is not sufficient to post a notice saying that it is not allowed, because it is an evil that you are able to remove or change.
And verily for everything that a slave loses there is a substitute, but the one who loses Allah will never find anything to replace Him.” [Related by Ibn al-Qayyim in ad-Dâ' wad-Dawâ Fasl 49]
What's your opinion on illegal downloading? A few weeks ago someone asked this on the Radio, to which both me and brother Malaz were stumbling upon..
Consider this as well. Wouldn't YouTube be considered illegal too, then? So many movies, episodes, CNN clips, and what have you... Being uploaded and watched by MILLIONS illegally.
Interesting topic, I thought. :P
well thats true there is an awful lot of movies on youtubes thats dvd stores are slowly losing buisness because of it nobody is renting dvds now
well thats true there is an awful lot of movies on youtubes thats dvd stores are slowly losing buisness because of it nobody is renting dvds now
Why is everyone acting innocent and angelic here?
We're all guilty of watching CNN clips on YouTube (such as the balloon boy) etc, and we all download Nasheeds over the internet. All of that is included.
If it's illegal, or if it is immoral, then why do you do it? :X
We're all guilty of watching CNN clips on YouTube (such as the balloon boy) etc, and we all download Nasheeds over the internet. All of that is included.
If it's illegal, or if it is immoral, then why do you do it? :X
i downloaded a load of stuff during ramadhan so it is totally and utterly haraam?
lol i didn;t act angelic i did confess in my first post.But the fact is you have to accept that you are doing wrong. I personally do that because i cannot afford to buy a dvd since 20 $ is too much for me , thats like 10 days of my food bill.
lol i didn;t act angelic i did confess in my first post.But the fact is you have to accept that you are doing wrong. I personally do that because i cannot afford to buy a dvd since 20 $ is too much for me , thats like 10 days of my food bill.
Unfortunately, while almost everything has been moved digitally, our current financial transaction system has not been adjusted for digital micropayments.
digital micropayments would enable digital products to be bought easily and cheaply, and until such system is widespread, illegal downloading will continue to flourish.
Okay, I've been guilty of downloading the random LOST episode, e-book and various other "torrentage" in my time. There, I confessed. I feel better now.
I think youtube however does quite a good job of censoring copywrighted material. News networks have their own "channel" through which they make money from advertising or some kind of wacky deal they have with youtube, so I don't think you should go on a guilt trip over watching balloon boy on youtube.
I feel that instead we should be talking about the real white elephant in the room here: torrents. I freely admit I used torrents up until recently - initially to download episodes of my favourite shows (astagfirullah), but then later on to download Islamic material such as Islamic e-books (Qur'an, hadith books etc).
It stands to reason that Qur'an should be freely downloadable, but I guess certain Islamic books are not for free distribution (including audio books) and should be purchased through the proper channels. I think we need to be very careful where we tread. For example, is it okay to dl a book on hadith, like Sahih Bukhari? Is there any copywright breach here?
do a google search for public domain Movies, soft ware and ebooks. You will be pleasantly surprised at how much free stuff is legally available or in some cases very low cost. Plenty of stuff can be obtained free legally without copyright violations it might be old, but it works.
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Yeah ermm... I've seen the Fatwas. I just wanted to hear what people have to say about it.
.. True .. we need to learn to respect and be content with what we have.
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