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Is it permissible to use paid website-downloading programs, designed for offline browsing, for the purpose of downloading Islamic websites and disseminating them, knowing that the formats of these downloaded files are open (HTML) and not encrypted, which might expose the fatwas to alteration by those who do not fear Allah? And is it permissible to download other Islamic websites without the owners' permission?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It is permissible to use free or purchased software, and it is permissible to copy and use it according to Sharia guidelines. It is also permissible to publish it on the Internet as long as its use for evil does not outweigh its use for good. There is no harm in downloading Islamic websites for personal benefit, as long as their owners do not prohibit it. However, it is not permissible to alter their content or attribute them to anyone other than their original owners.

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

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