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Is it permissible to work in the distribution of newspapers that contain pictures of women or news that violates Islamic law, while not reading them or looking at their content?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Publications are divided into three categories: First, that which propagates goodness and virtue, the buying, selling, and distribution of which are permissible by scholarly consensus. Second, that which propagates evil and vice or toxic ideologies; it is impermissible to buy, sell, or distribute such material. Rather, it must be boycotted, and those who deal with it must be denounced. Some scholars have gone so far as to state that it is obligatory for an Islamic state to ban it. The third category is that which is predominantly permissible, but contains some inappropriate images or ideas. The general rule is that buying and selling these is permissible, provided care is taken to remove or obscure any impermissible content within them. Working for these newspapers and magazines is impermissible if the forbidden content outweighs the permissible. However, if the images are ordinary and free from indecency and corruption, then there is no harm in selling them and profiting from them.

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

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