Assalamu Alaikum
Warahmatullah,
Firstly
we would like to thank ALL the developers
of External links,
Images & Background which
is published on our website or
mobile app 'Dua
& Azkar' and we pray to Allah SWT
to reward their works as Fi-Sabilillah
- Ameen |
One
of the questions quite often asked of us, is regarding
the copyright of Islamic materials.
Point
1- No Intellectual Copyright
First and foremost we wish to point out that there
is no such thing as intellectual copyright in Islam i.e.
a person cannot quote Quran and Sunnah or anything related
to this deen and claim it for himself, as this deen belongs
to Allah (swt),
إِنَّ
الدِّينَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ الإِسْلاَمُ
Truly, the religion with
Allah is Islam. (Aali Imran 3:19)
We are commanded to convey this
deen, the Messenger (saw) said in a hadith collected in
Sahih Al Bukhari,
بَلِّغُوا
عَنِّى وَلَوْ آيَةً
"Convey
from me even one verse"
and Allah says,
وَمَا
عَلَيْنَا إِلاَّ الْبَلاَغُ الْمُبِينُ
"And
our duty (i.e. the Messengers) is only to convey plainly
(the Message)." (Ya-Sin 36:17)
The reward we seek for conveying
this deen should be sought from Allah (swt).
وَمَا
أَسْأَلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ أَجْر ٍ إِنْ أَجْرِي إِلاَّ
عَلَى رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
"No
reward do I ask of you for it (my Message), my reward
is only from the Lord of the 'Alamin (mankind, jinns and
all that exists). (Ash-Shu'ara 26:109)
Point
2 - The Right of Disposal
Secondly the confusion most people have is that one may
be compensated financially for producing a CD for his
effort in production etc, however once the product is
brought by the buyer he has the right of disposal to do
as he wishes with this CD, DVD, book etc. This includes
to copy the material and distribute it freely if he wishes.
The original seller cannot stipulate any conditions on
the buyer once the goods has left his hands.
Point
3 - Copyright is an innovation of the Non-Muslims
If we look to our Islamic History we do not find our scholars
copyrighting their works, rather they made it available
for the Ummah so that they could benefit from the knowledge.
Unfortunately with the age of technology, some Muslims
have started to practice that which never existed in Islam
and are following the innovation (bidah) of copyright.