1. Am I sinful for letting my colleague take the book to photograph it, knowing that it is forbidden, and should I have refused from the beginning? 2. Is income earned from a job based on knowledge obtained from an illegally copied book considered unlawful, and does this fall under the Hadith: "Any body nourished by unlawful gain, the Fire is more befitting for it"?
Source: FtawySummary from Ftawy's records · added here Sep 2, 2026
Whoever absolutely forbids photography and copying holds that copying a book is impermissible, and it is not permissible for the owner of the book to enable others to copy it. As for those who permit copying for purposes other than earning money or trading, there is no objection to it, even if the author of the book prohibits it, because the purpose of the prohibition is often commercial copying, and not copying for the purpose of study and benefit. Copying a book for learning does not affect the permissibility of wages earned from a subsequent job.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
Read the full answer on Ftawyhttps://ftawy.com/en/questions/126785
Where this answer came from
- Source platform
- Ftawy
- Original fatwa ID
- 126785
- Added here
- . This is when the answer was added to El Fatwa, not the fatwa's date.
- Text
- Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
- Read the full ruling
- Read the full answer on Ftawy