Is it permissible to sell articles, some of which are difficult to review entirely, and some of which contain violations of Sharia, on the condition that the buyer commits to not publishing the articles that violate Sharia?
It is permissible to sell articles that you own or have acquired with permission. However, it is not permissible to sell articles whose owners have prohibited such sales, because copyrights are legally protected in Islam.
For a sale to be valid, the item sold must be permissible and have a recognized benefit. Therefore, it is not permissible to sell an article that promotes what is unlawful, or an article that has no benefit, because what is forbidden and what has no benefit are not considered property according to Islamic law. Similarly, it is not permissible to sell books of disbelief (kufr), magic, or astrology; rather, they must be destroyed.
The item sold must also be owned by the seller or permission must have been granted to them at the time of the contract.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
Read the full answer on Ftawyhttps://ftawy.com/en/questions/16674
Where this answer came from
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- Ftawy
- Original fatwa ID
- 16674
- 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