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Is it permissible, from a Sharia perspective, to copy and sell a game CD or Islamic software that has intellectual property rights at a lower price, with the intention of spreading good and alleviating burden from Muslims, knowing that few people buy them due to their high cost?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The ruling on copying CDs without the owner's permission has been previously explained in fatwas numbered 37862 and 32775. This includes Islamic, scientific, and educational programs. As for the masculine singular form of the verb "kāna" (كان) in the verse: "And let a party of the believers witness their punishment" (وَليَشْهَدْ عَذَابَهُمَا طَائِفَةٌ مِّنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ), it is used to align with the meaning, because "ṭā'ifah" (طائفة) means a group of people. If the word form were strictly followed, it would have been "kānat" (كانت) (feminine singular).

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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