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Is it permissible to photograph government documents, and for the employee to eat and drink during official working hours?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A government employee is entrusted with the tasks and tools assigned to them, and it is not permissible for them to use work tools for their personal benefit; as Allah Almighty says: "Indeed, Allah commands you to render trusts to whom they are due." An exception to this is what is not affected by personal use, such as a ruler. As for the photocopier, it is affected by personal use and consumes ink and paper, so it is not permissible to use it except with the permission of the competent authority. As for eating and drinking during official working hours, there is no harm in it if it does not affect the progress of work.

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

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