Tafseer Juz A'mma - Muhammad al-Shareef?

[Malaikah]

I posted you article on the Alkauthar student forums, and asked Sheikh Tawfique Chowdhury about the issue. This was his reply.

Dear Cheese,

Please remove the post of that article which is vile and rude and is not written by a person of knowledge but by an ignorant person. The issue of copyright and scholarship is a matter which is agreed by the vast majority of the scholars of our time including a fatwa from the World Fiqh council supporting that.

As for these people who write indescrimintate articles thinking that they understand and know what is being said - the only thing I can say about such people is what our sheikh Shanqeeti hafidahullah used to mention - that these people who fein knowledge quoting this and that source without basis and scholarship is like a person who comes to a big river and then urinates thinking that he has started another great river!

Abu Yusuf

http://forums.alkauthar.org/showthread.php?p=10572#post10572

He also said, with regards to my question about whether they have to respect the copyright even if they don't think it is halal:

Jazakallahulkhair. Without doubt they must obey the rule to adhere to the copyrights and since it is the opinion of the vast majority of the scholars. Wallahu alim.

Abu Yusuf

Hope that helps.

 

[m102313]

Hey, bro abdurrahman.med why are there so many copyrighted lectures on your site, you say copyright is Haram then why don't you follow it.

 

[ilm.seeker]

Salam,

I agree with you brother, but not many , only few, as for audio I keep only links mostly. Even in books, only few if you observe carefully. and that too many of these are already permitted to put on web.

But still I accept your comment brother.

As I said in my prev post, I am in dilema about this and insha Allah i will remove.

But one thing brother,
- one side of the issue is - commiting sin in ignorance and accepting it when the knowledge comes
- But other serious issue is that, person does the sin and thinks that he is doing the right thing with false reasoning

Brother, i do not want to offend you anyway.

May Allah guide us to the right path.Ameen.

Allahu Alam
AbdurRahman Meda

 

[m102313]

How can you say it is a sin?

And putting links means your still encouraging copyright.

 

[Abu Rago]

I read part of it. Not all. I disagree with most of it so far. And do you have a source for it?



I doubt it.

Even if we assume it is haram, it is still illegal. And it is haram to break the law of the country you live in! Or do you disagree with that too?

By the way, if copyright has "not part of the Islaamic system nor part of the Islaamic heritage of discovery, material progress, knowledge and scholarship and any misguided fataawa supporting them are to be rejected as non-Islaamic opinions", then why would you gain your knowledge from people who obviously think copyright is halal, since they have placed copyright on their material?

I believe a brother from islamicthinkers wrote it.

Copyright isn't really illegal anyway, if it was everyone who downloaded music or vids from progams like napster, ares, limewire etc would be comitting a crime and be punished for it.

I do not gain knowledge from people who think copyright is haram, As we have checked and spoken to shayookh first hand who do not actually mind us passing their lectures around e.g. we have spoken to Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki, Sheikh Murtaza Khan, and by the sounds of this post By Muhammad Al-Shareef he doesn't mind either:

If you find a lecture online of mine that is not produced by EmanRush, then you can probably download and distribute it.

the ones that you mentioned:

from my side, we don't have intention of producing them with EmanRush, so go for it.

For your information, some of those lectures I don't wish to produce with EmanRush cause they are not my 'best' lectures. Sometimes, I just give a normal halaqah at a masjid and then someone without my knowledge posts it up on the internet.

I don't mind, but i don't advertise those lectures because I think less lectures, but with quality, are better then a LOT of lectures with diminishing quality.

Personally, sometimes when I hear a lecture I think 'why did they record and produce this?' I think lectures, if they are going to be produced and distributed, they ahve to be done with ihsaan.

wAllahu 'alam.

Anyways may Allah bless your event with success and tawfeeq.

From http://forums.almaghrib.org/showpost.php?p=172858&postcount=2

So its not the Sheikhs who have a problem but its the media companies who are making money from knowledge.

I'm quite suprised thats what Sheikh Tawfeeq said, Can you ask him to bring one single example from hadith where it is mentioned that copyright is haram, or even an example from a classical scholar in where he says people cannot sell or give his books away for free without his permission.

At the end of the day, this is spreading knowledge that is vital to the ummah, and people selling lectures for £60, $80 a series is a joke. How do they expect youth who can only probably afford one series a year to gain such ilm that is so badly need?!

 

[Malaikah]

Copyright isn't really illegal anyway, if it was everyone who downloaded music or vids from progams like napster, ares, limewire etc would be comitting a crime and be punished for it.

That is not true. If I remember correctly, Napster was closed down- or at least one of those peer2peer programs was. Also, it is still illegal.

I do not gain knowledge from people who think copyright is haram,

That would be the majority of scholars then.:uuh:

As we have checked and spoken to shayookh first hand who do not actually mind us passing their lectures around e.g. we have spoken to Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki, Sheikh Murtaza Khan,

That is good. You should mention you have permission on your website too!

and by the sounds of this post By Muhammad Al-Shareef he doesn't mind either:

He does mind- he said we can download only his non-EmanRush lectures. The EmanRush ones are copyright, but the others are not.

So its not the Sheikhs who have a problem but its the media companies who are making money from knowledge.

No, I really doubt that.

I'm quite suprised thats what Sheikh Tawfeeq said, Can you ask him to bring one single example from hadith where it is mentioned that copyright is haram, or even an example from a classical scholar in where he says people cannot sell or give his books away for free without his permission.

I doubt that copy right existed in the days of the Prophet, so there is no way there would be a hadith saying "copy right is halal". He mentioned that the vast majority of scholars said it was permissible. Check the fatwa posted from the islam-qa website for the proof.

At the end of the day, this is spreading knowledge that is vital to the ummah, and people selling lectures for £60, $80 a series is a joke. How do they expect youth who can only probably afford one series a year to gain such ilm that is so badly need?!

$80 for a long series is not a joke. They put a lot of effort into their work, you know. It costs money.

Lectures aren't the only place to get knowledge, we can read the Quran and other books. Plus there are non-copyright lectures out there too!

In my opinion, it is better to get the material the hard way, by paying for it, and end up with less material, but have barakah in it inshaallah, than get it the haram way and have no barakah in it what so ever.

eace:

 

[Abu Rago]

That would be the majority of scholars then

Really?, Can you name me some scholars who say copyright is haram and bring me their proofs from Quran and Sunnah. And as for the one and only proof most people bring from islamqa.com; the Sheikh does not even bring one hadith or ayah So can you bring someone besides Sheikh Munajjid and some daleel? (no disrespect to the Sheikh, I love him for the sake of Allah)

I doubt that copy right existed in the days of the Prophet, so there is no way there would be a hadith saying "copy right is halal

Thats the answer to your questions right there, such a contact did not exist, so how can you then say it is haram? how can such a transaction be prohibited if it did not exist?, not only that but has there ever been a case in the time of the prophet salallahu alahi wasallam where someone made a condition on a purcahse saying, "you can only buy this product from me if you never sell it to anyone or give it away freely". If this kind of transaction is void how can you say copyright has a place in Islaam?

The only thing you can really say is to abide by the law of the land, other than that I think you should be careful when something is prohibited in Islaam when there is nothing clear cut to say so.

In my opinion, it is better to get the material the hard way, by paying for it, and end up with less material, but have barakah in it inshaallah, than get it the haram way and have no barakah in it what so ever.

In your opinion? who are you to say that when people download lectures and gain knowledge of the deen have no barakah? No Barakah for trying to learn the deen of Allah and to get closer to Allah? thats a first.

 

[Malaikah]

Julaybib, what are you talking about? You are the one saying copy right is haram, not me!

You seriously lost me, Sheikh Tawfique Chowdhury explicitly stated that the vast majority of scholars ruled that copyrighting ones work is permissible in Islam and that it is therefore haram to breach the copyright. He also mentioned that this was supported by a fatwa by the World Fiqh Council. If you don't know who they are, they are a group of some 200 scholars from across the Muslim world how debate about modern issues and come to a collective conclusion and issue fatwas accordingly.

So obviously, I am not speaking by my own worlds, I am only repeating the ruling of the vast majority of current scholars.

The only thing you can really say is to abide by the law of the land, other than that I think you should be careful when something is prohibited in Islaam when there is nothing clear cut to say so.

Exactly. You should be very careful when posting so called fatwas that make a mockery of the majority of the worlds scholars.

As for my saying that there is no barakah in it, then that is because it was obtained by haram means, so how can there be barakah in haram? As far as I know there is not barakah gained by doing something good by haram means.

I will ask the shaykh for the evidence behind the ruling inshaallah.