Is money earned from working as a designer of book covers, advertisements, and websites for a company that infringes on intellectual property rights by photographing books and copying software without the permission of their owners considered permissible (halal)?
Source: FtawySummary from Ftawy's records · added here Sep 2, 2026
Intellectual property rights belong to their owners and hold significant financial value in Islamic law. It is impermissible to infringe upon them by copying or printing without permission. Working for a company is not unlawful in itself. However, designing covers for books that have been pirated constitutes cooperation in sin, and one must cease this activity and repent. The salary earned is permissible if theign was done out of ignorance of the prohibition. But if it was done knowingly, then the amount corresponding to that design must be disposed of and spent on charitable causes.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
Read the full answer on Ftawyhttps://ftawy.com/en/questions/135164
Where this answer came from
- Source platform
- Ftawy
- Original fatwa ID
- 135164
- 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