Is it permissible to download academic articles from the internet for use in a master's thesis, with proper citation, in cases where copyright issues and prices vary?
Source: FtawySummary from Ftawy's records · added here Sep 2, 2026
Intellectual property rights hold a protected financial value for their owners, and it is impermissible to infringe upon them. Downloading content from the internet is permissible if it is not protected by clauses prohibiting such actions, or if it is available for free. Quoting from online publications is permissible without downloading or copying them, provided there is honesty in transmission and the quotation is clearly attributed to its author. For this, the content owner's permission is not required, even if they explicitly state a prohibition.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
Read the full answer on Ftawyhttps://ftawy.com/en/questions/121817
Where this answer came from
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- Ftawy
- Original fatwa ID
- 121817
- 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