Is money earned from installing pirated copies and programs permissible or forbidden?
Source: FtawySummary from Ftawy's records · added here Sep 2, 2026
Your brother is not permitted to download pirated software for a fee, because that is an infringement upon the rights of its owners. It is also not permissible to copy software that its owners prohibit from being copied, except with their permission, for the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Muslims are bound by their conditions,” and “The wealth of a Muslim person is not lawful unless given with his willing consent,” and “Whoever precedes [others] to a permissible thing has a greater right to it.” This ruling applies to the owner of the software, whether Muslim or non-belligerent.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
Read the full answer on Ftawyhttps://ftawy.com/en/questions/135304
Where this answer came from
- Source platform
- Ftawy
- Original fatwa ID
- 135304
- 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