Is money earned from working as a designer of book covers, advertisements, and websites for a company that infringes on intellectual property rights by photographing books and copying software without the permission of their owners considered permissible (halal)?
Intellectual property rights belong to their owners and hold significant financial value in Islamic law. It is impermissible to infringe upon them by copying or printing without permission. Working for a company is not unlawful in itself. However, designing covers for books that have been pirated constitutes cooperation in sin, and one must cease this activity and repent. The salary earned is permissible if theign was done out of ignorance of the prohibition. But if it was done knowingly, then the amount corresponding to that design must be disposed of and spent on charitable causes.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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