Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam
Question: Assalam alaykum
What is the ruling of intellectual property rights?
Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
Intellectual property is a legally recognised right afforded to the respective authors or inventors. This is the conclusion of many individual, senior contemporary jurists and also various fiqh academies from across the Muslim world. Accordingly, it isn’t permissible to infringe or violate it, particularly when it goes against the laws of the land, and doing so would be a form of theft.
[Usmani, Fiqh al-Buyu‘ (1.275); Ahdash, Copyright in Islamic Law]
Please also see: Are Copyrights Valid As It Relates to Islamic Content That Benefits Muslims, or Can We Freely Download and Share It? and: Does Copyright Law Violate Islamic Ownership Rights By Denying the Right to Freely Pass on Or Sell Your Property?
And Allah Most High knows best.
[Ustadh] Tabraze Azam
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadh Tabraze Azam holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Leicester, where he also served as the President of the Islamic Society. He memorised the entire Qur’an in his hometown of Ipswich at the tender age of sixteen, and has since studied the Islamic Sciences in traditional settings in the UK, Jordan and Turkey. He is currently pursuing advanced studies in Jordan, where he is presently based with his family.