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What is the ruling on working in a shop that sells top-up cards which may contain pictures of immodestly dressed women, and photocopies documents (which may be copyrighted or contain pictures of women)? And what is the ruling on an employee providing unauthorized services without the knowledge of the shop owner?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

We see the permissibility of selling cards and goods whose covers contain images of women because these images are disrespected and destined to be discarded, and the intent is to sell the product. This is also due to the widespread affliction (عمّت به البلوى). It is better to efface these images if possible.

As for copying copyrighted documents and books, it is a forbidden transgression, as is copying books that contain images of unveiled women.

Regarding the ruling on a worker’s employment in a shop that deals with these things: if he directly handles forbidden items, it is not permissible. If his work is limited to permissible transactions, there is no harm in it, although it is more cautious and preferable to avoid it out of piety.

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

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