In regards to copyright with relation to books which are used as study material: Can such books be copied without any profit being made from it?
Answer:
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Copyright is an intellectual property. This means that if someone wrote a book, they become the exclusive owner of the right to publish it, and nobody has the right to publish, copy, or reproduce their book without their consent.
The preferred view is that the copyright laws are recognized by the Shariah and that one must abide by them. Therefore, if the book in question has copyright laws attached, regardless of whether it is used as studying material or not, it will not be permissible to make a copy of it. This is also regardless of whether or not any profit is made from it.
(Fiqhi Maqalaat by Mufti Taqi Usmani: vol.1 pg. 224 – Meman Islamic Publishers)
And Allah knows best.
Mufti Faizal Riza