Taking courses whose material may be violating copyrights

3-1-2018 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. Shaikh, online course materials (books, graph, articles etc) may contain contents that are taken from their main content without consent of its original owner/maker/writer. Or the course (whether language learning, other type of courses) may be developed in such a manner that copyright may be violated. It is tough to investigate all of that. Can I continue taking the course? Is there any prohibition? Please note that I take an online course as a hobby in order to gain knowledge. I have read other fatwas about copyright issues on your website, so I kindly request that you please do not show other fatwas. Please, kindly give a direct answer to this question, which is specific for my situation. May Allah reward you.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

If these are mere doubts and possibilities and you do not know with certainty that the course materials were actually taken without the consent of the original owner, you bear no sin for benefiting of these courses. You are not required to investigate the matter any further to make sure that they were used with the consent of their original owner.

Allah knows best.